Twilight: Dark Witch, part 1
by peregrin01
Summary: Cliche list: "Dark"Powerful!Bella, Awesome!Dhamphirs, Awesomer!Dhampquils, Rational!Wolves, Canon!(Tw)Ships, Perplexed!Cullens, No!Angst, Ruthless!Harry, WizardingWorld!Bashing, Fawkes!Returns, Wampire!Bella, Global!Effects, Weird!Clichelist
1. A Different Beginning

A Different Beginning

**AN:** _Chronology: shift Harry Potter two years forward and Twilight five years backward and it should fit.  
>Anything written here about Quileutes is a lie. They aren't shape-shifters and they aren't in contact with some kind of a secret magical world. In fact, most of them probably haven't read TW at all and they don't make any money on their name being used while people of Forks are getting rich on organising tour-buses to La Push. How would you like it if you were in their place, huh? At least do them a favour and never write anything that would portray them in bad light.<em>

* * *

><p>We shall begin our tale in 1872 on an edge of a small Greek village. There lived a very old man and his wife. They had an orchard behind their cottage which provided them with a small income.<p>

One day, the old man returned from the orchard with a basket. His wife was preparing a dinner.

"Look dear, a whole basket!" said the man.

The old woman looked and saw that the basket was full of juicy lemons.

"Oh, these will sell great at the market tomorrow," she said.

However, that wasn't a very good time and place to begin the story. Why? Well, because neither the old Greek couple nor any lemons have any relation to it, for example. So, let's move to...

* * *

><p><strong>England, 1980:<strong>

Sirius Black pounded on a door. After some time, a beautiful black haired woman opened. That is, beautiful from some points of view. The profoundness of every feature of her face betrayed that she came from a narrow gene-pool. Her youth and magical cosmetics helped a lot but it was obvious that she would become an ugly hag in time. As a matter of fact, the same could be said about Sirius.

"Well, well. If it isn't my favourite cousin," she greeted him.

"Bella," breathed Sirius out.

"May I ask why are you battering at my door?"

"I would apparate or floo right inside but it seems that I'm not on your privacy filters."

"Indeed. Maybe I didn't want to speak with you," replied Bellatrix and leaned on the door-frame.

Sirius sighed and said, "Bella, we need to talk."

She waited for a while and it seemed that she was contemplating his request. Then she said, "Very well, since you're already here. Come in, Rodolphus isn't at home."

Sirius entered and took his cloak off. Bellatrix clapped and a house-elf appeared with a tea tray.

"Sugar?" asked Bellatrix after she poured two cups.

"Yes, please."

Sirius waited till his hostess drank. She was his favorite cousin but he couldn't trust her. Little did he know that the tea actually **was** spiked - with something that Bellatrix wasn't afraid to imbibe.

Sirius waited for his cousin to say something. When she remained silent, he repeated, "Bella, we need to talk."

"Talk away."

"It's about the people you are involved with."

"Which people?" asked Bellatrix with a smile.

"Death Eaters, dammit!" exclaimed Sirius. Little did he know that his cousin was working directly for Voldemort.

Bellatrix kept her mask and opposed, "There is nothing wrong with them and their goals are noble! Did somebody from that senile fool Dumbledore sent you?" Of course, she already knew that her cousin was working with the headmaster himself.

"No, nobody sent me!" retorted Sirius. He wanted to add that nobody actually knew that he was there but he caught himself in time.

After that, they started a very heated discussion about the ethics and nobility of their viewpoints. Bellatrix moved from her seat and joined Sirius on the sofa he was sitting on. Sirius loosened his robe, it started to get hot in the room.

After some time, Bellatrix put her hand on Sirius's cheek and said, "Please, can't we just agree to disagree? You are with Dumbledore, I'm with the pure-bloods and the Ministry will follow whoever wins. When this ends, one of us can take care of the other."

"Bella, you know how dear you are to me and that I'll do everything to keep you safe. But I don't think it's that simple. This can end badly."

"I'll be careful. We'll pull through this, like always. Do you remember the time when we were little and I accidentally broke a jar of Floo powder?"

"I do," confirmed Sirius and laughed softly.

"My father wanted to beat me when you suddenly appeared. You didn't say or do anything, you were just looking at him..."

"Yes, I remember that," interrupted her Sirius. He thought for a moment and then asked, "You hated him, am I right?"

"That's an understatement. I was under impression that you shared my sentiment."

"That I did. However, I wanted to ask: was he the reason why have you gotten involved with Death Eaters?"

Something about the recent and still unexplained disappearance (or death) of Cygnus Black nagged him. Sometimes, he was quite sure that he had been murdered by Bella. The idea excited him actually.

Bellatrix concluded, "Everything will be all right, I promise."

Sirius was lost in her eyes and they started to lean to each other. As the drug took effect, everything became unclear. Suddenly, he was kissing his cousin and didn't want to stop. The word "incest" had no chance of making it to the forefront of Sirius's mind.

Little did he know that his sweetheart would immediately run with the secrets pried from him during their escapade to her master Voldemort and that he would loose a great deal of his credibility in the Order of the Phoenix as a result which would cost him their support when he would need it the most. Little did he know that he and his childhood crush would be mortal enemies in several months, when the violences would escalate. And he had absolutely no idea that he would be killed by his cousin sixteen years later.

* * *

><p><strong>London, 1999, July:<strong>

Two Aurors weaved among throngs of people at an airport. Neither of them was quite comfortable among so many muggles and neither of them knew much about them. As a result, they stood out like sore thumbs in their ridiculous garments.

They were trying to track their target who seemed to be getting away. They were quite aware what would happen to the girl should they arrest her and bring her back to the ministry. That is, unless Scrimgeour interceded - which wasn't going to happen because he wasn't leaving his office any more. They also knew that their actions would ensure their careers after Scrimgeour's death.

They passed a guard who noticed them and after a moment of hesitation reported the unusual individuals to the staff in the central who found them on the camera system quickly. In the meantime, the Aurors caught a sight of their target again. She slipped through a door near a conveyor belt (not that they knew what it was). They broke into jog and followed after her.

"What a hell?" exclaimed a guard watching the two of them on a screen and summoned his supervisor.

"Some idiot must have left the door opened," said the supervisor. "Send security staff to get them out of there before they hurt themselves or damage anything."

The two Aurors were chasing after the girl. However, every time they saw her, she was already disappearing behind a corner. They encountered a maintenance guy who started shouting at them but a quick confusing charm silenced him.

They run into three guards after about ten minutes of the merry chase. The guards were armed with Tasers. Of course, the Aurors had no idea what those were. "Freeze!" shouted one of the guards.

The Aurors looked at each other and started to dispense stunning hexes. Two guards went down immediately but the third managed to pull the trigger. One of the Aurors got electrocuted and sank to the floor while the other stunned the remaining guard. He growled when he processed what happened and regretted that he didn't use a more drastic spell.

Suddenly, he felt sharp pain in his lower back. He looked down a saw a tip of a dagger protruding from his belly. He feebly waved with his left arm in an attempt to reach behind himself. He also tried to twist his right arm to point his wand in that direction but the wand started to slip from his fingers.

"I'll take that," whispered a voice in his ear and a woman's hand took his wand before it could fall. The wand of the second Auror flew into the air and was collected by the very same hand.

The second Auror started to come to himself. Suddenly, he received another shock, albeit a shorter one. He made a motion to remove the needles from his chest.

"Don't," warned him a voice. He looked up to see a wand being pointed at him.

"You bitch!" snarled the Auror when he saw his dead partner. He received another shock.

"On whose orders are you operating?" asked the "bitch".

"The Ministry of Magic!" growled the Auror in what he hoped was a threatening manner.

The girl pressed the trigger and kept it pressed until the Auror nearly lost his consciousness. He was still aware enough to notice when his throat was cut.

* * *

><p><strong>USA, Washington, August:<strong>

The young girl stared at a screen of an old computer. There wasn't anything interesting in there, just an empty desktop. Nevertheless, the girl's face had a tortured expression.

Then she said to the two men behind her, "I don't know. This is so... so..."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to working with them in no time," laughed Henry. He was a friend of Billy's and an owner of a decent computer.

"I don't know," snorted Billy Black. "I've never really understood these infernal machines."

Henry rolled his eyes and said, "Well, Bella, we'll let you to play with it alone for a while, that's the best way to learn to work with a computer. Try to practice the things I've shown you - it will help you to blend in better."  
>Then he turned to Billy and asked, "Want a beer?"<p>

"Sure," replied Billy and they left.

When she was alone, Bella turned her attention to the computer again and prodded the mouse. Why did she have to push that piece of plastic around when it would be so much better to touch the screen directly? Henry had said something about mouses being cheaper and better.

Bella remembered that she was supposed to practice sending and receiving of mail and creating of documents. Unfortunately, she couldn't recollect how was she supposed to do that. She pushed the mouse around the table and watched as its counterpart on the screen moved. She knew that she was supposed to push a button on the mouse when the arrow was over the right icon. She couldn't remember which icon was the right one though. She thought what a stupid electrical contraption it was and ruffled her hair.

As Bella searched the desktop, she saw an icon which was different from the others. She moved the mouse over it and pushed the left button. When nothing happened, she remembered that she had to push it twice.

What happened next startled her a little - the desktop disappeared and the screen went black. After a while though, something began to happen and the boxes beside the screen started to make sounds. Bella understood that what she saw on the screen was some kind of a film. She knew what a motion picture was, though she never went to see one herself. Bella leaned back in the chair comfortably and folded her arms on her chest. She didn't understand fully what was a film doing on a computer but it was better than creating documents.

In the low-quality animation, Bella saw a young woman attacking and killing some vampires (or what people believed vampires were to be more precise). She watched the rest of the sequence and when she heard the word "dhampir" and explanation of its meaning, she raised an eyebrow. However, the animation ended then and some kind of a new desktop appeared. She knew it was a desktop because there was a mouse pointer. It was different though.

Suddenly, the door to the kitchen opened and Henry came back. He looked at the screen and sneered, "Well, well. What have we here?"

"I just..." started Bella and trailed off.

"I was afraid that you might have troubles with understanding computers but if you have managed to start a game then you obviously know more than enough," continued Henry.

"What's that?" asked Billy and nodded towards the screen which was at the time dominated by a motive of blood and teeth.

"That's not what it seems to be!" defended Henry himself. He knew that Billy didn't like vampires.

"It's about a dhampir actually," said Bella.

"What?" exclaimed Billy.

"An offspring of a..." wanted to explain Bella.

"It's my computer and I can do whatever I want on it. Now get out!" interrupted her Henry.

Bella and Billy returned back to Billy's. Jacob was in front of the house, tinkering with the truck.

"Is it going to be finished today?" asked Billy.

"Yeah, I'm almost done," called Jacob from under the hood.

Billy and Bella went inside. Billy took an envelope from a drawer and tossed it to Bella.

"This is your driver's license," he said.

Bella opened it and asked, "Isabella Swan?"

"You can keep going by Bella that way. Remember that you are now officially almost a year younger to match the age you should have. You'll be in a junior grade."

"Uh huh."

"Listen, Bella. This license is your ID but it also says that you can drive a car. That crap about computers isn't important since there is a lot of people who can't use them. However, if you get in a car accident which would clearly show that you can't drive, it would be suspicious. So pay attention to Jacob when he teaches you."

"OK."

"And remain in the area. You aren't prepared for highways or city traffic."

Bella drank a glass of water and they went outside. Jacob closed the hood and wiped his hands with a rag.

Billy turned to Bella once again and said, "One more thing. It's an old truck so it's not full of electronics like the modern cars. However, the plugs, lights and wipers are still electrical so be careful. Well, and the radio too."

Bella nodded.

"She is all yours, son," said Billy and returned inside the house. A baseball match was about to start in TV soon.

Jacob smiled and asked, "Have you ever been in a car?"

"Uhm, yes."

"Splendid, that saves me a lot of explaining. Let's get started."

They spent the rest of the day driving around. Bella managed to bump into something a few times but the truck was so sturdy that it wasn't even noticeable on it. Jacob said that the car was perfect for Bella. Overall, she did quite good but she agreed with him. It seemed that she was going to be able to make a trip to Forks and back soon enough.

When the evening came, they returned home and made a dinner. After the meal, they started to make plans for the next week.

"So, what about this: Harry Clearwater will give you a lift to the airport and then Charlie Swan can pick you up," proposed Billy. "It will look like you came by plane and was waiting for him."

Bella made a face and asked, "Can't you just tell him that you've picked me up for him? And that you've took me here and gave me the truck?" The idea of the two long trips and of a crowded airport wasn't appealing to her.

"Well, that would require quite a convoluted explanation and it would still look weird. I think he'll want to pick his daughter himself so I'm afraid we'll have to do it as I've said."

Bella rolled her eyes and sighed. Then she remembered something and told Billy, "Hey, this Charlie Swan. I hope he isn't some kind of a creep or something like that."

"Oh come on, he was my friend since we were kids. I trust him. Can't cook to save his life though."

"Well, it isn't you who is going to live with him. I'm warning you - if he lays one finger on me, he's dead. And by dead I mean literally dead, like not breathing and starting to rot."

"Don't worry, there won't be any troubles. He is a man of honour and he loves his daughter. I mean you."

Bella sneered and retorted, "And that's supposed to calm me? It's weird. Can't I just stay here?"

"A white girl living with a bunch of natives in a reservation and with no explanation why? Now that would be strange. Unless you married in or was in a relationship with somebody from here."

Bella made a sick face.

Before they went to sleep, Billy approached Bella one more time and told her, "One last thing. You're going to encounter them at the school..."

* * *

><p>Charlie Swan walked around the airport and looked for his daughter. Bella watched him from afar, comparing him to a photo from Billy.<p>

"Yes, it should be him," she murmured to herself and approached him from behind.

"Char... dad?" she called him with faked enthusiasm.

Charlie turned around.

"Bella?" he whispered and stared at her in amazement.

"Hi," greeted him Bella and then added, "It's raining."

Charlie regained his composure and replied in his normal tone, "Yeah. Don't tell me you're surprised."

Bella laughed and replied, "I guess I'm not."

"It's good to see you, Bella," said Charlie and wanted to give her a one-armed hug but then he just awkwardly patted her shoulder.

As they walked to the cruiser parked outside, Bella thought, _"Good, at least he isn't a fan of physical displays of affection."_

When they reached the car, she asked "Do I get handcuffs too?"

"Don't worry, you'll survive it for once. And I've found a car for you for afterwards," replied Charlie as they were getting inside.

"Oh. How much is it going to cost me?"

"Nothing. Do you remember the Blacks from La Push?" replied Charlie and started the car.

"Hmm. Daughters Rachel and Rebecca?"

"Yeah. So, Billy Black lent it to me since he's in a wheelchair. I was willing to pay for it as a sort of homecoming present but Billy said that..." Charlie broke off there, swallowed and continued, "...that it isn't sure how long are you going to tolerate the local weather."

Bella chuckled and said, "Well, he sounds like a smart guy. But don't worry, I'm quite stubborn and a few raindrops won't freak me out."

As they drove the rain got stronger and Bella added after a quick contemplation, "But a whole sea dropped on us might."

They remained mostly silent for the rest of the ride because Bella reached the end of her willingness to play-act. Charlie had a few very careful questions about Renee and Bella's life with her. Bella gave him equally careful answers.

In the end, he decided to stick to something neutral. "Nice haircut," he said. Bella had black and relatively shortly cropped hair. It wasn't something that he would describe as beautiful but it definitely looked practical. She just grunted a thanks.

They arrived at Charlie's and he took her suitcase inside. Then he led her upstairs to her room. When he opened the door and Bella peeked inside, she saw a nursery room. It seemed that it was never used.

"Sorry about that," said Charlie. "Somehow, I didn't get around to remove the old stuff. But I have your bed and desk prepared downstairs already."

"That's OK," Bella calmed him down.

They cleared the space a little and moved the furniture upstairs together. Charlie then left Bella to unpack.

About an hour later, Charlie returned and told her, "Billy and Jake are coming with the truck. Jake said that he'd like to explain the truck to you personally."

"Explain the truck?" asked Bella and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. It's old and he was maintaining it himself, so..." answered Charlie. He was uneasy with it, afraid that it might displease Bella.

"OK, sounds great," she said. It was only a few hours but she missed the Quileutes already. Well, to be more precise, she already preferred their company against Charlie's.

When they arrived, Charlie introduced them to each other. Billy and Jake shook Bella's hand dutifully. Jake had a hard time dealing with the surrealism of the situation but he didn't blow it.

Bella and Jake went to ride the truck around the neighbourhood. Charlie and Billy watched TV. Charlie stood up after a while and took out a few cans from the pantry and a can opener.

"What are you doing?" asked him Billy.

"I just thought that I'll make her something to eat while she's out."

Billy held out his hands with palms forward and objected, "I don't think that Bella would appreciate if you tried to poison her on her first day here."

Charlie agreed after a while and put the cans back. In the meantime, Jacob and Bella stopped at a grocery to complement Charlie's pantry.

When they returned and Bella parked, Jacob told her, "Well, drive carefully and you might avoid any accidents."

"Well, thanks."

"And don't forget to drive on the right side. Not left."

"I know."

They returned to the house, carrying a few bags of groceries.

"Dad? We stopped at a store, you had no vegetables here," shouted Bella.

Charlie shrugged slightly and Billy laughed, "Look at it this way: you'll live longer on healthier food."

Bella walked in the room and asked, "Dad? Can Jake and Billy stay for dinner?"

Charlie quickly straightened up and replied, "Sure." Then he stood up and continued, "I wanted to fix you something when you were away..."

Bella interrupted him, "Oh. But isn't it true that you wouldn't be able to boil a kettle of water? Leave the kitchen to me for the time being."

When she left, Billy sheepishly grinned and apologized, "Yeah, Jake probably told her..."

They continued to watch the TV. After some time, they were joined by Jake, who finished peeling potatoes and explaining what some of the items in the kitchen were for. After some more time, Bella served them fish and chips.

"I noticed that the fridge is full of fish. You caught them yourself?" she asked Charlie.

"Yeah, we go fishing all the time," he answered.

When the dinner was over and dishes were washed, Bella offered to take Billy and Jake back to reservation. However, Charlie told her that she needed to settle down and rest and he took them himself in his cruiser.

Bella was already prepared for bed when Charlie returned. She listened as he moved around the house. Then he visited her room and wished her good night before going to bed himself.

When she was alone again, she thought about locking her door. Was it something that girls her age usually did? What if he wanted to check on her? Was it normal there? Wouldn't he find it weird that she had locked herself? In the end, she just placed a chair near the door.

Bella tucked herself in the bed. As she was falling asleep, she thought about the school she was about to start attending next week.

* * *

><p><strong>London, The Ministry of Magic, September 2nd:<strong>

"Wands only choose witches or wizards. You are not a witch." Umbridge's screeching voice filled the courtroom.

Harry's blood was boiling as he witnessed the scene and something snapped in him. His gaze shifted to Hermione. He noticed that she wasn't looking down in her papers in an ill-concealed fury or piercing the pure-blood bitch with her eyes. She wasn't even looking at Mrs. Cattermole. Instead, she was looking at Umbridge's chest.

Harry moved and saw what they came for. It was time to end the charade. He moved a little bit more, careful to stay shielded from the Dementors by the cat patronus. Umbridge and Yaxley were both lined up in front of him.

"Sectumsempra. Sectumsempra!"

* * *

><p><strong>USA, Washington:<strong>

Charlie's alarm started to beep. He grunted and turned it off, then he got up. When he started to move in his room, Bella stirred and woke up. She didn't bolt from the bed like she had that first morning but she still moved rather spryly. She quickly dressed and went to brush her teeth.

When Charlie arrived in the kitchen, Bella was already preparing breakfast, just like the day before. Smell of mushrooms, sausages, eggs, tomatoes and other things filled the house.

"I see you are up early again," he remarked with a smile. Bella's care was heart-warming but he wondered how long was it going to last. He considered possible ways of reciprocating.

"It's normal for me," she replied. She wanted to add something like that she was accustomed to seeing her mother to work but that would lead to more questions.

After they ate, Charlie put on his gun belt and told Bella, "Well, I've got to go. Have a nice day."

He felt bad about going to work when his daughter was home. Next day was going to be even worse because it was going to be Saturday and he was scheduled for work. At least he could spend the Sunday with her because he had planned to go fishing with Harry (those plans were cancelled).

Bella didn't have school that day yet even though it was Friday - Labour Day fell on September sixth that year. The first day of school had been scheduled for seventh. Jacob's schedule was similar. Hence, Bella started the red beast and slowly rode to La Push.

Jacob was reviewing some study material from the previous year but when Bella came, he decided to practice manoeuvring on a parking lot with her. They prepared a small training ground complete with dummies representing other parked cars. They repeated the training the next day. In the end, they agreed that Bella should arrive early to school that Tuesday and leave before lunch.

Sunday was rather awkward. Charlie and Bella spent most of it sitting around and trying to find something to talk about. Bella noticed that Charlie started to completely avoid any questions concerning Renee. It didn't seem like he was afraid or unwilling to talk about it, it actually looked like he was avoiding the topic on a subconscious level without even realizing it himself.

In the end, they found a topic which was rather obvious in hindsight: La Push and their Quileute friends. Bella knew them all already of course but Charlie shared a lot of childhood stories with her. It was somewhat difficult for her to imagine Billy and Harry as little boys, running around with Charlie.

Charlie worked on the Labour Day. Bella didn't drive to La Push for a driving lesson with Jacob that day. Instead, one of the other boys (who already had got his driver's ID) drove to Forks on his motorbike and practised driving in a town traffic with her. They drove to a gas station at the end of the session. Bella gave him some banknotes and he demonstrated the process of buying gas for her.

The first day of school arrived.

"Have a nice day," said Charlie after breakfast. "I hope you make some friends at school," he wished her.

When he drove off in his cruiser, Bella hung around the house for a while. Then she prepared her school bag and got in the truck. Parking lot was still almost empty when she arrived, just like she hoped.

It was sunny that day. She glanced at the sky and came to a conclusion that cloud cover was unlikely to form that morning. She wondered what kind of excuse Mr. and Mrs. Cullen made for their children.

Bella made a brief visit to the office. Mrs. Cope had been made aware of her arrival but she still eyed her curiously. Then the other students began to arrive. Bella walked to her homeroom. Somebody said hello to her and asked her if she was Isabella Swan.

"Just Bella," replied Bella neutrally and went to find a seat for herself. Some girl named Jessica sat next to her and was apparently decided to stick to her.

Bella tried to pay attention to what the teacher had to say so she wouldn't be conspicuous later. Still, she failed to understand many of the things that were being said.

Jessica talked to her during breaks. She was trying to weasel her way to Bella by pretending to be nice and friendly, probably so she could get some juicy gossip about her. She was evidently very good at pretending but Bella saw through her right away nevertheless.

Bella found Jessica to be annoying but she could appreciate the girl's skills. Even though her best friends from back "home" always carried their hearts openly, she didn't sneeze at the opportunity to have somebody around to keep herself sharp. In fact, the whole town was probably a goldmine of dirty small-town secrets, ready to be discovered by her - she could feel that much just from a cursory glance. It always warned her to see how the so called "civilized people" were rotten under the surface. Moreover, she wanted to keep a low profile and understanding her environment was the first step to achieve that.

Before too long, all the organization stuff was done and they were released. Jessica took her arm and led her towards the mess-hall. When it was time for Bella to derive from Jessica's course, she stopped and extricated her arm. She excused herself and wanted to leave.

"Aren't you going to have a lunch?" asked Jessica.

"I need to hurry. I'll eat with you tomorrow."

The girl wasn't about to be deterred though and asked, "Hey, would you like to hang with a bunch of us later today so we would get to know you?"

"I've been invited to La Push already - that's why I need to hurry. See you tomorrow."

Jessica was irritated but she hid it masterfully. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow," she sang with a smile on her lips.

Bella managed to leave the school grounds without crashing into other cars. She drove to La Push and visited Sam Uley - they had some things to talk about. She hung around with Jacob and his friends at the beach for a while afterwards. After all, that's what she had told Jessica.

The second day of school came and the actual classes with it. Some of Bella's classes were a little difficult for her but she was sure that she would catch up soon enough.

During lunch, Bella saw them - the Cullens. Billy had told her about them but she would recognize them at first sight nevertheless. She thought how stupid her classmates were, not being able to see what was right in front of them. Bella just briefly glanced at them and then turned back to her food. She didn't want to be caught watching them.

Jessica saw her though and immediately started to jabber, "Those are the Cullens. They..."

Bella was listening only partially. Half of her brain was focusing on the Cullens.

At the other table, Edward and his family were silently discussing the newest addition to the school. Then he attempted to listen to her thoughts. Billy told Bella to expect something like that so she never broke her carefree and relaxed expression.

_"What have we here?"_ she thought and quickly glanced at the Cullens. The bronze haired one was looking at her. Bella knew what she had to do to avoid suspicion. She created a dummy trail of thoughts outside of the boundaries of her actual mind. Then, as Jessica kept going on about the Cullens, she put there a casually tuned thought, _"What do I have next, biology?"_

At the other table, Edward silently told the others, "She seems bored. It's almost like her mind was sleeping." His tone was uninterested and as bored as the thoughts he heard from Bella. He noticed though that her thoughts didn't mirror Jessica's gossip which, as he assumed, meant that Bella wasn't paying attention to it.

The others gave him their mental responses. If Jasper concentrated, he would be able to tell the discrepancy between Edwards's words and Bella's actual mood but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was just counting minutes until it was time to go home.

"She's going to be in biology with me next period," remarked Edward. His siblings didn't even react this time. They finished playing with their food, dumped their trays and headed for the classes.

Edward was prepared for another boring lesson, only minimally spiced with his new desk neighbour. Instead, he found himself with his thirst raving as soon as the fan brought Bella's scent to him.

Bella looked at him and thought, _"You gotta be kidding me. Billy said that they were supposed to be safe!"_

She sat down next him and prepared herself. As she was arranging her things on the desk, she remembered herself and released a dummy thought, _"Why is he staring with such a hate on me? Is that jerk angry that I'm not trying to flirt with him like all the local girls?"_

In the sea of Edward's thirst, a pang of anger appeared. He found it infuriating that the stupid girl was thinking about such things when he was preparing to murder her.

When the attack didn't come immediately, Bella shifted in such a way that her hand was under the desk. There was a short springy sound combined with an equally short sound of friction of something against cloth. It was very silent but Edward would hear it - if he was able to concentrate on anything else than killing everybody in vicinity.

Bella redirected a copy of what Mr. Banner was saying to her dummy mind trail and waited for Edward's action. When nothing happened for the next ten minutes, she realized that her tactic was too risky and decided to make the first move. She slowly started to put a sick expression on her face. She raised her hand after a while.

"Yes?" asked the teacher.

"Mr. Banner, I don't feel well. I think I ate something bad at lunch."

Seeing her face and hearing her voice, Mr. Banner decided not to risk interruption of his class by a vomiting girl and said, "Could somebody please take Miss Swan to the nurse?"

Bella expected Edward to volunteer but some other guy (Mike, as she learned later), jumped up to escort her. Outside the classroom, he wanted to put an arm around Bella and support her but one glare from her changed his mind.

When they reached the nurse, Bella sent Mike back. The nurse asked Bella what she needed.

"The lunch probably didn't agree with me," replied Bella.

"Oh. Do you need to go home?" asked the nurse.

That would clash with Bella's plan. So she replied, "I would rather lie down for a while first, I don't want to drive right now. But I've got only gym remaining today so I could go home then if I feel well enough."

Later, Bella perched herself outside the school (downwind) and waited. When the class ended, a very distraught Edward came out and headed towards his car.

Bella intercepted him and barked at him, "Hey! What's your problem?"

Edward looked like he was about to explode. Somewhere in the school, Alice was mentally calling him but Edward wasn't paying attention.

"If you have something on your heart then we can sit down and talk about it," continued Bella and emitted thoughts that backed her words.

Edward mobilized all his strength, got in his car and drove away. After a moment, his cell began to ring. He took a few breaths and answered it. It was Alice.

"What's happening?" she asked. "My vision of your future sort of... fluctuated for a moment."

"I have to get out of here!" was his reply.

In the meantime, Bella drove to La Push, found Billy and told him what happened. He counselled with a few people and then proposed, "Why don't we simply call their leader?"

"Yeah, let's see him squirm. Do you have a contact to him to hospital?" agreed Bella.

"Sure," replied Billy and dialled.

Carlisle was still thinking about his son's abrupt departure when he was called from the hospital's central.

_"Billy Black? What could he possibly want?"_ he thought and told the operator to redirect the call.

"Dr. Cullen speaking," he said.

"Well, Dr. Cullen, would you care to explain what's going on?" prodded Billy.

"What are you talking about?"

"About one of your coven, Edward. He was behaving very strangely today."

Carlisle was so surprised that he did not answer for a moment. Then he said, "He heard a subject matter today that he already... knew. He couldn't take it any more and left. How do you know about it anyway?"

Billy looked at Bella who nodded. Billy continued, "We have ears and eyes everywhere. We are always watching you. So don't insult me please. It was blood-lust, don't even try to deny it."

Bella scribbled something on the paper and showed it to Billy.

"If you have troubles with keeping your side of the treaty, you should leave," added Billy when he saw Bella's message.

"We haven't done anything to break it nor are we going to. And we expect the same from you," replied Carlisle.

Billy decided not to push him too much and told him, "Sure. We understand that your diet and lifestyle is putting you in a difficult situation among your... friends. So, we aren't going to cause your names and photos to appear in media. For now."

When he put the phone down, Bella squealed in delight.

Billy laughed and exclaimed, "I wanted to do something like that for a long time!"

Bella frowned on him and said, "But then you had to get all softy on him and tell him how understanding you are."

"I don't want him to snap or something."

Before leaving, Bella also told Billy about Edward's talent. They agreed that some kind of preventive preparation for a possible encounter with him should take place in future.

Bella quickly returned home and did the laundry. Then she started on a dinner. Charlie returned home when she was almost finished.

"So, how was the school?" he asked while they were preparing the table. He wondered whether his daughter had been raised to study diligently.

"There isn't much to tell. Girls at the school are stupid and boys there are creepy," replied Bella. "But there might be a few exceptions, like those Cullen kids."

While they ate, Bella tried to get some info about the Cullens from Charlie but he didn't tell her anything that she didn't know already. She noted that his tone was a little defensive though.

"I'll go to catch some fresh air before bed," she called at Charlie after the dinner.

"Bella, it's night."

"Don't worry, I'll just take a short walk around the house."

And so she did. Charlie was watching her through the windows. Bella made a perfect circle around the house and returned inside.

_"What a hell?"_ thought Charlie but then he just shook his head and forgot about it.

Something strange happened that night before he went to sleep though. When he was setting his alarm (on a digital clock), he noticed that it was sort of malfunctioning. He tapped it a few times and when it didn't help, he decided not to trust it to wake him up the next day. He pulled out an old mechanical alarm clock from his closet, wound it up and set it for the next morning.

Bella tried to come up with some kind of a trick on Edward while she was driving to school the next day. In the end, she decided to keep it simple and just "accidentally" injure herself near him and then go to an empty WC. If he decided to follow her, it would prove his true intentions. But then again, he had not gone to her house the previous night.

Edward's car wasn't in the parking lot when she arrived. She went inside and loitered near a window where she would see him coming. He never did. His siblings arrived in two separate cars but Edward was nowhere to be seen.

During lunch, Rosalie glared at Bella. Bella just looked back at her and smirked. Rosalie seethed with anger.

Bella managed to catch Alice alone later and asked her, "Excuse me. It's probably none of my business but I've noticed that your brother Edward wasn't here today."

Alice looked at her with surprise and replied, "No, he wasn't. You are right though, it's none of your business."

Alice turned to leave but Bella added, "It's just that his behaviour was quite rude and weird yesterday. We never met before so I don't understand why he was glaring at me with such a hate. And sometimes I would almost swear that he was also looking at me like I was something to eat."

Alice froze and said before walking away, "He just isn't feeling very well, so he stayed at home."

Bella called Billy that day. They kept their conversation obscure but Billy knew what was Bella talking about. Neither of them knew what a singer was so they were at loss about Edward's behaviour. He just said, "Hm, let's wait and see what he is up to."

Edward didn't appear for the rest of the week. Bella had two more conversations with Jessica, scared away two more boys and made acquaintance with Angela Weber. Angela was a nice girl and it was relaxing to talk to her.

At Friday, Bella told Charlie, "Dad? Billy Black called today."

"Huh?" asked Charlie.

"He invited us to visit them. There will be a little get-together tomorrow."

"Oh, that's nice of him. Maybe you'll meet some new friends."

"Maybe," murmured Bella as she was leaving the living room.

"Not to mention that Jacob will be there," added Charlie.

Bella turned back and firmly said, "Dad, please save yourself, me, Jacob and others a lot of embarrassment and don't even try to hook us together."

"OK, fine," agreed Charlie, suddenly feeling uneasy.

When the two of them arrived, Jacob and Sam were already preparing a grill. While Charlie joined Billy and Harry, Bella helped Emily and other girls to prepare salads. A few more people arrived and the barbecue started.

Charlie quickly found himself more content than ever before. He was surrounded by his friends, his daughter was back and she didn't seem unhappy - all things considered, life wasn't so bad after all. He looked at his daughter again. She was nibbling at her sausage and chatting with other young people who were present. He noticed that she was quite comfortable in La Push. In fact, more at ease than she was at home. He felt a pang of sadness when he realized that she might see him as a little more than a stranger and wasn't entirely comfortable living with him all alone.

When everybody had something to eat, Sam sought Bella and they went aside a little to talk.

"Will you come back tomorrow after school? We need to discuss things," asked Sam.

"Can't, it would be suspicious since I just met you guys today," replied Bella. "What about later this week? I can say that Leah or Emily invited me or something. But I think that Charlie wouldn't want me to be out for too long - he would probably go all daddy on me about school being the next day."

They agreed to make two shorter visits, in Tuesday and Thursday, and a long one next weekend. Sam also mentioned a place for Bella's lab. She told him, "It should be dry, this humidity isn't good. And it should be cool even when the sun is out. And shady. I wouldn't mind if it was well aired but it can't be drafty."

"OK, we'll come up with something," acknowledged Sam. Then he added, "Also, I've been thinking about our options if somebody came looking for you..."

"Then I'll leave," Bella cut him off.

"That's not necessary. I've got this idea..."

Sam fell silent because Charlie approached them. They changed topic to something else and didn't return to it again that evening. Sam just mouthed to Bella that they would talk later.

Towards the end of the barbecue, Bella sat with Leah behind the house. Leah was drinking a beer while Bella had a soda. The Quileute girl wasn't a very pleasant company but her outlook on life matched Bella's very much. Leah told Bella about the recently developed situation with her, Sam and Emily while Bella told her details about her problems back "home". Not that either girl had any wish to became friends with the other.

Charlie found them later and told Bella that it was time to go home.

"You know Ch... dad, I really liked being there," said Bella as they were driving back.

Charlie just replied, "Uhn-huh." He couldn't understand why she was so open to them while she was relatively reserved around him. He decided not to ponder on it.

The next day was very long for Bella because she had to spend it whole at home with Charlie. She spent most of the time doing homework and trying to catch up where she was behind her schoolmates. When she needed a break, she decided to go out for a small hike.

"Where are you going?" asked Charlie when she put her coat on.

_"You are kidding, right?"_ thought Bella and then answered, "Out. For some fresh forest air."

"You are going to the woods?" pressed Charlie.

"Yes, I won't be far."

"You aren't in Phoenix Bells, you could get lost or be attacked by an animal."

"Oh come on."

"I'll come with you," stated Charlie resolutely and put his coat on as well.

_"Fan-fucking-tastic,"_ thought Bella and resigned.

While they were hiking, Bella tried to pull some information from Charlie. She wanted to know if there were any deaths or disappearances lately. However, Charlie claimed that there were only very few unnatural deaths in Forks, mainly traffic accidents and animal attacks. Bella inquired about the latter but she didn't learn anything suspicious.

Next day was school again. She went through her forenoon classes like usual. There was a boy who was starting to loose his fear from her which meant that he might become an annoyance later.

After lunch, she made her way to the biology. As soon as she entered, she froze in her steps - Edward Cullen was back.


	2. Danger Assessment

Danger Assessment

Edward was maybe a self-loathing piece of a nut-job but he was also a man of pride. After almost a week in Denali, he decided not to let a measly human girl disrupt his family. After all, what he had heard from her indicated that she was no different than the other girls in Forks. In fact, she was probably kind of dumb because the amount of thoughts he heard from her was considerably smaller than usual. So he returned to Forks and attempted to rearrange his schedule but it proved impossible. He ended up in a classroom with her again.

When Bella saw Edward back at their shared desk, she asked herself, _"What a hell is his game?"_ She sat down next to him cautiously.

Edward steeled himself and focused on her mind. He heard, _"It seems that he's back."_ Then he figured that he should say at least something and muttered, "Hello."

Bella looked at him and replied, "Well, hello," and emitted, _"It seems that his tummy-ache or whatever it was last week is better."_

Edward blinked. A tummy-ache? He knew from his siblings and from thoughts of Bella's schoolmates that she had not discussed his behaviour with anybody. He was surprised that she had not needed to find a common ground with other girls and to gossip about him to make herself feel better but explaining it with a stomach-ache seemed quite far-fetched to him.

Mr. Banner informed the class that they were going to dissect frogs that day. All the pairs went forward to take a frog and tools.

"I'll get a frog," said Bella

"OK," replied Edward, trying not to use too much air, and went to get a scalpel, a pair of tweezers, a pad and some pins.

"Do you want me to cut?" asked Bella when they were back at their desk and stroked the frog on its head.

Edward just shook his head and took the knife. However, he didn't seem to be in rush to take the frog from Bella.

"Very well then, I'll prepare... her for you," proposed Bella and pressed the frog to the pad.

"OK," repeated Edward. He felt silly for being so limited in how much he was able to say. He also noted that the girl couldn't be entirely stupid if she was able to recognize a male frog from a female one.

Bella took a pin and decided to mess with Edward a little. She created another fake mind trail but weaker and somewhat unclear. Then she leaned closer and nailed one of the frog's limbs to the pad. At the same time, she emitted a high-pitched screech in the secondary trail.

Edward started when he heard that. He looked around and saw that it couldn't be anybody else around. It couldn't come from Bella either because he heard her thoughts at the same time. Bella pinned the remaining limbs and accompanied it with a mental scream of pain each time. It was rather difficult and she had a hard time concentrating on the real world but she managed it.

When she pushed the pad with the frog to Edward, he was somewhat disconcerted. He did not cut immediately so Bella urged him, "Well? Get on with it." She leaned a bit closer (not too close though).

Edward reluctantly cut at the belly of the frog and immediately received loud screams of pain. His hand jerked back. He shook his head, something like that had never happened to him.

Bella reached out to take the knife from Edward and said, "It's all right, I can do it." Then she emitted through her fake mind, _"Oh, he doesn't want to hurt the frog. How sweet and cute!"_ Of course, that was far away from what she really thought.

Edward's eyes bulged when he heard that. Bella quickly killed the frog so there were no more screams.

When the class ended, Mike Newton and one of the girls who had been rejected by Edward in the past strode to their desk.

"So, didn't feel like gutting the frog?" mumbled Mike. He wanted to sneer but his voice was uncertain.

Bella seized her chance and defended Edward, "Hey! Valuing life isn't something to be ashamed of!"

Alice told Edward's siblings what happened. They welcomed him with smirks and sniggers when he met them. Edward glared at them but to no avail.

"So, our ickle brother can't bring himself to gut a frog?" provoked him Emmett.

"And needs a girl to defend him against evil bullies?" added Jasper, who behaved almost out of his character.

Edward tried to hush them and explain about the strange readings from the animal but his brothers didn't take him seriously. After decades of boredom, even a little thing like that was able to amuse them greatly.

If Bella was a normal girl, she would have a hard time keeping a straight face. What she did was childish but it was also funny and it gave her some interesting information about Edward and potentially made a dent in his defences. However, it didn't make her any closer to figuring him out. He clearly wanted her blood. Did it mean that they weren't as harmless as Billy's grandfather had thought they had been? And why hadn't he attacked yet in such a case? And why the hell did he care about a stupid frog? She considered going to La Push and telling her friends all about it but decided to leave it for next day.

When Edward returned home, he sought his father out and told him what had happened. Carlisle was intrigued and they discussed thinking and feeling capabilities of frogs for a while. Edward hesitatingly told him about what he had heard from Bella. His tone suggested how ludicrous he found the notion. Esme was passing Carlisle's study at the moment and overheard it. She rushed in, hugged Edward from behind and insisted, "You are sweet and cute. Never doubt that!"

The school was uneventful next day besides some difficulties in classes caused by gaps in Bella's knowledge. Edward and his siblings were avoiding and ignoring her. Only Emmett sent a big smile at her during lunch. Bella went to La Push right after school.

Billy and others listened to her observations. Somebody voiced his opinion that maybe it was all a waste of time but others hushed him. Afterwards, Sam and Emily took Bella to a small shed at the edge of the woods. It fit Bella's specifications well enough so she agreed to make it her laboratory. It still needed some small repairs, improvements and alterations though.

Bella started to work on the shed while Sam and Emily went back to their house. In a while, they returned with a pickup loaded with a few lockers, shelves, tables and such. They even brought some broken and discarded chemistry equipment from the reservation school and their old fridge (which was no longer functional). Bella's kit, books and other things were stored at Billy's house for the time being, Bella decided to move them to the shed next time.

When they unloaded everything, Sam told her, "So, we can finish our conversation now."

"OK. What should I work on as first?"

"Well, I have a suspicion that Jared and maybe Paul might be affected by the presence of the Cullens in the future. Unless we manage to drive them away, it's only a matter of time. I would like you to provide them with something to calm them down when the time comes. Not to mention that I myself am quite new to this and wouldn't turn it down."

"Many of your forefathers went through this and did just fine," remarked Bella.

"Yes but that was when this area was still largely unpopulated. Today, you can't run in any direction without encountering somebody. A hiker for example. Not to mention that most of the tribe is oblivious to what is happening and thanks to you, we need to keep a far lower profile than ever before."

Bella nodded and replied, "Very well, I'm going to need to do some research. What time frame are we talking about in Jared's and Paul's case?"

"I don't know, it's unpredictable. Maybe months before anything starts?"

"And when it does? Is it over in hours, days?"

"For me, it was several days. But there should be signs before it starts."

"Good," replied Bella. Then she turned at Emily and continued, "I guess you could use some kind of salve?"

Emily touched her scars and answered, "Yes. It can wait however."

"Well, it's not my area of expertise but I'll see what can be done."

Sam smiled and then spoke to Bella again, "We would be very grateful. One one last thing. When we spoke the last time, I wanted to know if you could make more like this one." He passed Bella a double-barrelled hunting shotgun.

"Yes, that shouldn't be too difficult," answered Bella after she examined the weapon.

"But it would have to be reliable and not to fall apart after some time."

"With the right basic materials, it wouldn't. As for the ammunition, I would need real gun-powder."

"Very well, that can be bought."

Bella gave him the gun back and stated, "However, I don't think this would be of much use."

Sam nodded and replied, "Of course, this gun is meant just for recreational hunting. But we could obtain some real guns meant for combat."

Bella shook her head and said, "I don't believe that would work either but better than nothing, I guess."

"OK, we'll try to buy something simple for starters and see how are you going to be able to work with it."

The time when Charlie was supposed to come home was getting near so Bella decided to go back when they finished their discussion. She wasn't finished with dinner yet when Charlie returned from work and so she couldn't avoid him when he decided to hang around. He asked about her day at school and about her visit at the reservation. Bella figured that those were safe topics and gave him rich answers to distract him from other possible questions.

Next day, Edward was missing again. He decided to take a day off and asked Carlisle to excuse him from school. With him absent, Bella settled for assessing of his so called siblings. Rosalie was the most simple: she obviously disliked Bella. Alice seemed to be confused for some reason. Jasper was cautious, suspicious and probably having a hard time resisting the temptation of all the human blood around him. The most positive attitude towards her had Emmett probably. He seemed to be amused by the whole thing. Bella thought that it would be a good idea to talk to him someday.

The following day (Thursday), Edward was back. They met in the classroom several minutes before the class began.

"Are you all right? You were missing again," asked Bella.

"Yes, I'm OK. Thanks," answered Edward. His control over his thirst was improving.

"I'm sorry about the whole thing with the frog," said Bella after a moment.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Edward bewilderedly.

"I made you look stupid, that wasn't my intention," explained Bella. Then she fake-thought, _"Why does he think that I would think less of him? He didn't want to dissect a frog. That shows that he has feelings."_ However, what she really thought was, _"This is all so pathetic. I can't believe I'm actually playing this stupid game. Frogs? His feelings? This is probably the most pitiful vampire ever. Maybe he isn't entirely stable considering how young he is. I hope this helps me to asses if he represents a danger at least."_

The teacher arrived and they remained silent for most of the time. Sometime during the class, Bella realized that Edward had a strange way of breathing. She put that thought on her fake-trail. Edward heard her and started to move his shoulders more. However, it only confirmed Bella's suspicion that he wasn't breathing at all.

When the class ended, she told him, "You know, I find you really difficult to figure out. It's frustrating, I'm usually good at reading people." She meant what she said this time. She even considered taking a shortcut and doing it the easy way. However, that would be like admitting a defeat and she didn't want to risk an exposure.

Edward just stared after her as she was leaving. He was starting to doubt his standing opinion about Bella (that she was all too easy to read). Maybe it was going to be difficult to figure her out as well.

After school, Bella stopped at Blacks' house to pick up her remaining things. She met Jacob there and he offered to help. They drove to Bella's shed together and unloaded the equipment, books and the rest of the stuff. They spent some time setting the interior up and sorting everything to its proper place.

Afterwards, Bella started to search through her books and notes. Jacob helped her to take notes and to keep things organized. After some time, Bella could tell that she probably had got all the information she needed for both projects with her. She actually worked on something similar to the first one before and the second one was so common that it didn't require any special literature. Bella considered that as fortunate since she wanted to keep a low profile and going to places where she could get more books would compromise that.

While they were reading, Bella thought about available resources. She had some basic supplies and a limited amount of money. Again, she wanted to avoid places where she could buy more. Then an idea came to her and she picked another book from a shelf.

"Jacob, do you recognize any of these plants?" asked Bella and showed him some illustrations in the book.

"They look familiar but I'm not sure," answered Jacob.

"Could you pick some guys and look around for some of them?"

"Sure," agreed Jacob and wanted to take the book.

Bella stopped him, "No way you are going to run around with it in the woods. Let's make notes."

They redrew some of the selected plants in a notebook and Bella dictated Jacob pointers about where to find them.

"Can you make it with just the plants we find around?" asked Jacob them.

"I'm not sure. It doesn't need to be strong. We might have to travel elsewhere for some of those plants though."

Afterwards, Bella packed one of the books and some of her notes in her bag. She wanted to go through them at Charlie's. When they were leaving, Jacob warned her that a vagrant might try to get inside so Bella improved security of the shed.

Next day, Bella decided to change her fake-thoughts a little. She hoped that maybe a different mind-profile would enable her to get into Edward's head (metaphorically speaking). It would mean to stop being inconspicuous but she had to do it to dissolve the unknowns around Edward and his family. She didn't like unknowns.

So, during their shared class, Bella emitted thoughts like _"What should I cook for Charlie today? Poor guy wasn't taking good care of himself in the past years, I need to make him to get his cholesterol level checked,"_ or _"Why does Edward always seem so depressed? He always looks so lonely when he sits with his family. And why does he never eats anything? That can't be healthy for him,"_ and such.

Edward was a bit confused by the change. He was used to hear from Bella only scarcely and it was usually only a copy of her words or of those around her. When the bell rang, he had to admit that he became a tiny bit curious about his lab partner and considered finding more about her later to prove that there was nothing to be curious about.

Students began to trickle out of the room and Edward started to pack his things. He was doing so at human pace, because Bella remained as well. She got an idea and positioned herself in such a way, that her hands were from all sides covered by her bag, body, desk and backrest of her chair. There was the springy sound again and this time, Edward heard it. Bella quickly made a movement and shoved her hand in her bag just in time to prevent Edward from seeing what she held.

When she was having dinner with Charlie that evening, she addressed him, "Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Leah Clearwater invited me to a sleepover. It's this weekend, from Saturday to Sunday."

"A sleepover?" asked Charlie in surprise. He was quite befuddled, Bella didn't strike him as a sleepover person.

"Uhm-hm. Watching a movie, making Seth uncomfortable and such."

"That's quite a girl-stuff," commented Charlie. He figured Bella as very ungirlish in the past two weeks.

"Well, it's an opportunity to spend time with friends."

"Sue and Harry don't mind?"

"No, Leah cleared it with them."

Bella went upstairs after the dinner. Instead of homework, she read the book she brought from the reservation.

Next day, she made a big lunch and left for La Push. Once there, she immediately sought Sam and gave him a roll of banknotes. She told him what she had done at school and what her plan was.

"I need to confront him out in the open and away from any witnesses," concluded Bella.

"Is it wise?" asked Sam. "Maybe it would be better to let it go if he hasn't attacked you so far."

Emily was listening to them. She worried about the outcome of Bella's plan and was afraid that something might happen to Sam.

"And what if he's waiting for a right moment to strike? If he goes hunting this weekend, I'll know and offer him that opportunity."

"Unless he changes his shoes," added Sam.

Afterwards, she approached Jake and his friends. They presented her with a collection of herbs. Bella threw most of them away but a few of them were the right ones. The most important plant, _Arnica montana_, was actually grown directly in La Push as a sort of private joke. She instructed them to look for more and joined in the search this time.

When the evening came, the whole company (including the elders) assembled around a fire. Ephraim Black had suspected that Edward Cullen could read minds and Bella confirmed it for them. She wasn't very optimistic about their ability to learn to close their minds completely but since Edward's gift wasn't very forceful, she hoped that some of them would be able to get in his range without giving away any sensitive information. And of course, it would also save the pack many embarrassing moments.

After they parted and Bella got several hours of sleep, she returned to work. She made a first draft of the formula and realized that she was still lacking part of the ingredients. She decided to travel to places where she could get the rest later. She would have to plan it well enough to make it all in one trip because it was a good idea to keep the frequency of her travels at minimum.

When Bella left the shed she went to Emily's where she found Sam. He agreed to tell her about shape-shifting. As he was explaining, Bella realized that Sam's experiences won't be of much use to her. For Quileutes, shape-shifting was driven by instinct and came naturally to them. Not to mention that it was in their genes because they were hybrids (as she believed) to some extent.

While she was considering whether to go to Billy and ask him to tell her more about their legends, a piece of sea-glass she carried with her started to glow slightly. It meant that Edward was moving, fast.

"What shall we do?" asked Sam.

"Let's give him a while. When I confront him, get near the area, downwind. Stay several miles away. Do not get involved unless I call you."

Bella tracked Edward's movement for five minutes.

"OK, let's do it. He is about ten miles northward from their house. I think he is changing his direction toward the coast," Bella informed Sam. Both of them got moving.

Edward was at the time running through the woods, searching for a pray. Carlisle was nearby. Edward had asked to accompany him, he wanted to discuss his self control in the presence of his singer during last week.

As he was trying to catch a scent of a suitable animal, he suddenly smelled Bella. He lost control of his body for a moment. Fortunately, he managed to stop himself ten meters from her. She stood there, all tensed up and prepared for action. When he didn't continue towards her, she relaxed a little.

"Hi there. Hiking?" she called.

Edward didn't respond. He wanted to run away from her but the pull toward her blood was too strong. Bella made a few strides to him and Edward took one step back. Bella observed his struggle with interest. She realized that he wanted her blood but was restraining himself. His motives however, were unclear to her.

"Is something wrong? You don't look well," she added and took another step forward.

Carlisle arrived at that moment and quickly assessed the scene. "Edward," he addressed his son, trying to get his attention. Bella tensed again and awaited Carlisle's move. Carlisle approached Edward and put a hand on his back. Edward managed to tear his focus away from Bella and looked at him.

"Go on without me Edward, I'll catch up with you," said Carlisle.

Edward just nodded and then ran along. Bella eyed Carlisle for a moment. He seemed at ease, without any sign of blood-lust. That didn't mean that he wasn't dangerous but Bella relaxed a little as well.

"Good morning, Dr. Cullen. Are you hiking?" she repeated her previous question.

"Just a short walk around with some of my family, miss Swan."

"You know me? We've never met," asked Bella.

"And how do you know me in that case?" retorted Carlisle.

"It's not hard to guess."

"Same here."

Bella had him just where she wanted and asked, "So, Edward told you about me and you assumed who I was based on his reaction? By the way, what was all that about? Is something about me bothering him?"

Carlisle couldn't come up with a good way to tell her that it was none of her business so he just ignored her question and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Hiking," answered Bella and hoped that they weren't going to backtrack her path.

"You shouldn't wander in the woods alone, there are wild animals around."

"I know, I'm being careful. Well, I'll go back to my car now."

"Aren't you lost? We are only ten miles from our house. We can lead you there and the give you a lift back to you car."

That was inconvenient to Bella. She wondered what would Sam do if he didn't hear from her soon. "No, I don't want to inconvenience you. I'll just head back to La Push, I've left the car there."

"Very well. It was nice to meet you," said Carlisle after a brief hesitation.

"It was nice to meet you too."

When Bella left, Carlisle went after Edward. He took out his cellphone while he jogged and called Alice. He told her about encountering Bella and asked her to keep an eye on her in case she ran in danger. Alice wasn't very attuned to Bella but she agreed. Carlisle then caught up with Edward. He was leaning against a tree and breathing heavily.

"You did well," he commended him.

"There were no witnesses. For a moment, I wanted to kill her," replied Edward.

"But you didn't."

"What the hell was she doing there anyway? I go hunting and of all the people I have to meet her!"

"She claimed she was hiking."

"Do you believe her?"

"Well, it's a strange coincidence but not impossible. Let's head back to the house, Alice might be able to tell us more."

In the meantime, Bella found Sam and told him what happened. Then they returned to La Push.

Carlisle and Edward returned to the house. Alice approached them.

"Did you saw anything?" asked Carlisle.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find her," she responded.

"How is that possible?" asked Edward.

"I guess I'm not attuned to her. I'll keep trying."

Bella was at the time discussing the encounter with Edward and Carlisle with Quileutes. Billy made sure to scold her for her recklessness. Bella then decided to go home in case Carlisle called Charlie.

When Bella left La Push, Alice saw her and notified her family. They were discussing the events at the time. Jasper was the only one who remarked that she got back to La Push quite quickly. Being suspicious of everything, he wanted to go to the site of encounter and backtrack Bella's route. However, Alice told him that it was about to rain soon. Not knowing that even a very brief inspection would reveal interesting things, he stayed home.

Bella arrived home where Charlie welcomed her by questions about the sleepover. She decided to spend the rest of the day with him.

"So, what are we going to do today?" she asked.

Charlie was confused for a moment before he realized that she was offering an opportunity for some daughter-father bonding. He started to think about their options and realized that there wasn't much they could do. He thought about teaching her fishing or going to diner but he didn't think that those things would be appealing to Bella.

"Well, we could... I don't know, watch TV?" he proposed finally.

Bella rolled her eyes but she asked nevertheless, "Is something interesting in there?"

"Well, there is no game till the evening. There is this sitcom however..." Bella shook her head. "...a talk-show." continued Charlie and Bella disagreed again.

Finally, Charlie said, "In about ten minutes, there will be a documentary. Something about the Second World War."

That piqued Bella's interest. "Documentary. Do you think it describes the events accurately?" she asked.

"Well, that's the point, I think."

"OK, that sounds good."

Bella made a popcorn and they sat on a sofa. She had some rudimentary knowledge about the war and the document wasn't relying on pre-requisite knowledge much so she was able to watch without asking Charlie too many suspicious questions. The documentary was about development of aeroplanes during the war.

"Well, that was quite good actually," said Bella when it was over.

"You liked it?" asked Charlie in confusion. Bella always found a way to surprise him.

"Yes, we need to do it again sometime. Could you tell me when there is something similar again?"

"Yeah, sure."

Alice, who was still keeping an eye on Bella, watched the whole thing and Edward saw her vision. He definitely wouldn't guess from Bella's thoughts that she was interested in warfare and his curiosity about her was raised by yet another tiny bit. Jasper, who was always interested in history of wars, grunted something about Bella not being so bad after all.

His opinion was about to be changed soon however. Next day on lunch, Edward sat with his family at their table and prepared to pretend to eat. Suddenly, he heard that Bella who was sitting not too far away thought his name. He looked at her and listened to her thoughts.

_"He never eats or drinks anything,"_ she thought in her dummy mind.

Edward looked at his tray and its contents. There was some over-greased pizza and a bottle of soda. He started to cut his pizza in pieces. Bella kept looking at him.

"She noticed that I don't actually eat," he whispered to his siblings.

Edward quickly found out that he didn't fool Bella. He heard her think, _"Yep, just like when I was little and the food at school wasn't good. Dissect the food to make it look like I ate at least something and then dump it. But it's strange that he is doing it every day. Why does he bother to buy anything at all?"_

Edward tried to be more convincing but to no avail. His siblings were watching him with interest. As Bella's thoughts became more and more suspecting, Edward realized that he had no other choice. While trying to mask his revulsion, he brought the pizza to his mouth and took a bite. Emmett's eyes were bright with amusement. Bella was satisfied and turned to her own meal.

"This is strange," said Jasper.

Edward read his mind and found out that Jasper felt Bella's mood. Then he read Bella's mind again.

"What?" asked Rosalie when she saw Edward's confusion.

"She is highly amused," answered Jasper and began to grin, being affected himself.

"Are you sure? It doesn't seem like that to me," said Edward. Bella was just eating, her face dispassionate. Her thoughts didn't betray anything either.

"I'm telling you, she is laughing inside," insisted Jasper.

From them all, only Emmett found the whole thing amusing. Jasper and Edward were suspicious, Rosalie was irritated. Alice couldn't form an opinion about Bella. The girl was an anomaly in her visions, the future had a strange way of behaving around her sometimes.

Edward went to the restroom to choke the pizza out. He arrived to the class he shared with Bella in the last minute. They sat through the class and Edward made sure to behave extra grumpy during it. When the class finished and Edward stood up to leave, Bella blocked his path.

"You know Edward, I'm not stupid. You have some kind of problem with me," she said.

Edward considered pushing past her but he didn't want to risk getting that close to her.

Bella fake-thought then, _"Yes, I know you have something against me. You look at me all the time like you wanted to bite through my artery."_

Edward blinked in surprise, shocked by the accuracy of her idea. "Get out of my way," he gritted through his teeth.

Bella remained in place and continued, "If you hate me so much, then why didn't you take advantage of the situation yesterday? You could have gotten rid of me or something." She expanded that "something" by fake-thinking, _"You could have yelled at me or confronted me or whatever."_ What Bella really wanted to know was why he restrained himself from draining her blood.

Edward heard her fake thoughts but he reacted to her words, "What do you mean, get rid of you? Am I some kind of a gangster?"

Bella looked in his eyes and stated, "I know it's well in you capability." To make it sound less suspicious, she fake-thought, _"Anything is possible for those with money."_

Edward didn't want to take another breath in her presence in order to get air to respond so he just shook his head in disbelief and leapt over their desk to avoid Bella.

After school, Bella contemplated going to her lab in La Push - she wanted to start on a new project. However, she didn't want Charlie to think that she was spending too much time there and so she decided to stick to her established schedule of two shorter visits during week and one big during weekend. Hence, she only made a quick trip to La Push, grabbed the book she needed and returned home before Charlie did.

Next morning welcomed her to the new day by sun-rays streaming into her room. She opened the window and took a deep breath, it was a sunny day. She always found such days refreshing, both in Forks and back at home.

_"Well, no Cullens today,"_ she thought and went to the bathroom.

At school, she found out that she had forgotten her homework for one of the classes but she managed to do it in the break before the class. Later, she managed to sneak in the chemistry laboratory and stole a small amount of chemicals. She took samples only from larger bottles and packages so no one would find out.

After school, she drove to a drug-store and bought some cleaning solutions. Then she went to apothecary and bought some benzine. She drove straight to the reservation after that. Jake was already home from school as well and Bella found him playing in his garage.

"Hi, are you up to some more collecting?" she asked him.

Jake was agreeable and even got some of his friends to join them. An old Quileute from the reservation was also breeding the right kind of beetles and gave Bella some.

When they were returning to Bella's shed, Jake asked, "You know, I couldn't not to notice that these are completely different ingredients."

"Indeed," replied Bella.

"Are you brewing something new?"

Bella repeated her previous answer.

"Care to enlighten me? I've been running around the woods for almost three hours because of this after all."

"It's a sort of perfume. It will cover my scent," answered Bella.

"You need it because of them?" continued the always inquisitive Jacob.

"Yes. I think my smell makes Edward more thirsty for some reason. This will confirm it."

Jacob stopped and asked, "Wait a minute. So all of this is for some bloodsuckers's comfort?"

"No, we are doing this because I'm curious."

"Couldn't you just collect some of Sam's sweat?"

"No, they know your scent and I don't want them to know that the pack is back. Now shut up."

Bella started to work once they got to her lab. Jacob returned home and relayed Bella's request to Billy. She wanted him to call Charlie and give him some excuse why she wasn't home yet.

It was dark already when Bella stoppered a bottle of a nearly finished product. It still had to mature during the night but she was confident that it would be ready for usage come morning.

When Bella awoke next morning, she opened the bottle and sniffed at its contents. Apparently satisfied, she poured a portion of the liquid in a spray and applied some on herself before going to school.

The first Cullen she met that day was Alice. They passed each other in a hall after their second classes. Alice caught her scent and frowned in confusion. She thought, _"People who sell such perfumes should be hanged."_ and walked onward.

Then there was lunch. Edward looked thoughtful and looked in Bella's direction once in a while. He probably saw Bella's choice of scent in Alice's mind.

And finally, their shared class came and they once again sat together at their desk. Edward was hesitant to breathe at first but once Bella gently nudged him with her thoughts, he did. The effluvial input he received was unlike anything he expected. He could still hear the enticing sound of Bella's thumping heart but the mouthwatering aroma of her blood was significantly reduced. He realized that it was covered with the new perfume that Alice smelled earlier.

Edward started to think, what kind of "perfume" was capable of such a thing? It was quite a repellent odour, he had no idea what kind of a company would produce and even manage to sell such a thing. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he forgot that he was looking at Bella for the whole time. After a while she turned her head and looked back at him.

After another while, Edward blinked a few times and apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

"That's all right. Do I smell better now?" replied Bella with a smile.

"Yes, I mean no... I mean yes, for me I guess... I mean, your perfume seems peculiar," stuttered Edward.

"I know. It neutralizes my scent but I guess it doesn't smell very nice."

"What...?" wanted to ask Edward but the teacher approached them at that moment.

Bella remained focussed on the class for the remainder of their time there. When the bell rang, Edward accosted Bella once again. Mike Newton frowned when he saw that they were remaining behind again.

"You said that it neutralizes your scent. How did you mean that?" inquired Edward.

"Well, I thought that maybe my smell irritates you so I thought about covering it."

"What led you to believe that?" asked Edward. He was shocked a little that Bella guessed that his feelings were based on her scent.

"I've read an article about it on this... this Ethernet thingy."

"You mean Internet?"

"Yes, that. Well, and it said that some people can get very irritated from the smell of some other people. Like bullies and geeks for example."

"And you thought that this was the case?"

"You were quite obvious. After I read that article, I realized that I must smell foul to you and that it makes you angry."

"Well, not exactly. I mean, you didn't smell bad," quickly corrected Edward. He suddenly considered it blasphemous to describe such a sweet smell as foul.

"So, how did it smell to you?" asked Bella and raised an eyebrow.

Edward hesitated and then carefully answered, "Well, it was quite distracting."

Bella laughed and said, "Well, I'm flattered."

Edward regretted then what he said and opened his mouth to say something.

"Don't worry, I won't tell a living soul that you've said that," assured him Bella.

Edward closed his mouth again.

"Though I may make an exception with any of your siblings who would find this amusing," added Bella.

Edward cringed at that thought. Then he asked, "And the perfume? Where did you buy it?"

"Oh, I made it myself. There was a recipe under that article."

"Don't you mind that it smells rather... odd? Jessica is bound to gossip about it if she finds out."

"Eh, what do I care what the other girls think?" said Bella and backed her words with her fake-thoughts. Mentally, she also added, _"And at least it might keep boys away from me."_

Edward heard that and driven by a sudden inspiration, he said, "Well, it has a perk. It might keep the likes of Mike Newton from bothering you." It was the first time he used his ability in such a way.

Bella thought, _"Unbelievable. Did he just use his ability to appear more charismatic to somebody else?"_. She said, "Well, when you put it that way, I guess it does. Being icy to them would work only for a limited time."

Bella collected her things and started to walk away.

"Bella? Why did you went through all that trouble?" called Edward after her.

Bella turned back and replied, "I don't know. To see you perplexed?"


	3. Life in Forks

Life in Forks

Ever since then, Bella and Edward talked a little bit more to each other when they met at school. Not enough to start gossips but more than Edward had ever talked to a human. Once, they even ditched lunch and went to the library where Edward explained to Bella some subject matter which she had trouble understanding. Edward was actually quite glad for that, it enabled him to avoid human food. He found it odd however, that Bella had a problem with something relatively simple, while she seemed quite smart otherwise.

Edward also told Carlisle about Bella's miraculous perfume. To say that his father was impressed would be an understatement.

"She said that the recipe was on the Internet, it shouldn't be too difficult," noted Edward.

"If it was that simple, I would create something like it ages ago. We need to get that recipe," replied Carlisle. He thought about how it would be beneficial to Jasper.

When Edward asked Bella, she told him that she had forgotten the procedure already. When he asked about the address of the page where she had read that article, she seemed to be confused for a moment before she told him that she had forgotten it as well. Edward didn't want to make her suspicious by his questions so he dropped it.

"Why don't we just look in her computer? The article will be still in the history," proposed Jasper when they were discussing the situation at home.

"We can't just break into her house," objected Edward. Neither Carlisle liked the idea much.

Rosalie just rolled her eyes and exclaimed, "Oh come on. This is finally something that might make our existence somewhat easier. I can't believe that it was some human girl who stumbled upon the solution and then just forgot all about it."

Once they reached a decision, Alice saw it all in her vision. "Wait. She doesn't have a computer at home," she said. There was more to it however. There was a fluctuation in what she saw, similar to the one from the first day but not the same. When Edward was deciding whether to kill Bella and everybody else in the room when they first met, the fluctuation shrouded his whole future. Alice was convinced it was because Edward wouldn't be able to make any decisions. This time, there was just a brief flux in the image. And if Alice wasn't sure that it was impossible, she would almost say that the fluctuation formed a bubble around Charlie's house.

"She probably used a computer at the school library," said Carlisle. Edward and Jasper were silent. The former watched Alice's vision, as she went through it again and latter was looking questioningly at both of them, sensing their confusion.

They broke into the school that night and checked out all the websites that were visited from the library - even those that were erased from histories of the used browsers. To their disappointment, all they found were pages with study material, university portals, news and even some porn. That left them with no choice but to hope that Edward might get something from Bella one day.

While the Cullens were "chasing their own tail", Bella concentrated on making of what she was supposed to make for Quileutes in the first place. Two weeks passed and she presented Sam with a vial of a strangely looking liquid. He looked at it speculatively, uncorked it and sniffed at its contents.

"Sorry, sugar would nullify its properties," apologized Bella.

"How are we going to test it?" asked Emily who was also present and stood in vicinity.

"I don't know, let's just try if it has any effect on you," proposed Bella. "You can phase and then we can try to anger you somehow or something like that."

The others looked at her doubtfully. Nevertheless, he downed the vial and waited for a while until it got in his bloodstream. Then he went behind a bush to shed his pants and phase.

When he returned, Bella told him, "Now, imagine that Dr. Cullen is giving Emily a pelvic exam!"

The other two made nauseated faces which looked rather comical in Sam's case.

"You were supposed to make him angry, not to make everybody around sick," chastised her Emily.

They tested Sam a little more.

"Well, I'm not sure if there was something different," remarked Sam when he phased back.

"Well, my priority was for it to have no side effects and not to affect your ability to fight in any way," replied Bella.

"I don't intend to take it before a battle, I want to feed it to any new and potentially dangerous members of the pack."

"As you wish. I'll try to make a stronger version one day. But right now, I would like to whip up the salve for Emily."

Sam and Emily nodded. Bella gave Sam another vial for testing under normal circumstances.

Before she left, Sam told her, "Oh, we should have that gun this week."

"That's great. Let me know as soon as it's here," replied Bella.

When she arrived home, Charlie was already there. Thanks to various circumstance, he was cleaning his hunting double-barrelled shotgun at the time.

"Hi dad," said Bella and helped herself to a glass of water. Then she leaned on a counter and watched Charlie. Or, to be more precise, she rather eyed the gun.

"Do you use it at all?" she asked.

"Well, sometimes we go on ducks with Harry. I enjoy fishing more though. Still, it's used more often than my service gun."

Bella grinned at that - Charlie's service six-shooter wasn't used at all. Charlie on the other hand, he wasn't grinning at all. Bella's obvious interest in warfare and weaponry was unusual. He had been quite freaked out previous week when Bella watched in fascination a historical footage of heavy bombs dropping on a city.

"When did you use it the last time?" she inquired.

"The last duck season, I guess."

"When the next one comes, how do you know that you'll be able to hit a duck?"

"I don't know," replied Charlie, not knowing where Bella was going. "I don't need to hit one after all. I prefer fish."

"That's quite irresponsible for a chief of police. We should go and practice."

"We? Practice?"

"Yeah, I would like to try it as well."

"Weapons aren't toys Bella!" exclaimed Charlie.

"Well, I'm not going to play with it, I'm going to shoot at a target," retorted Bella.

Charlie finally relented when Bella promised that she would come fishing with him if she didn't like the shooting. It was Sunday next day and so Harry and Charlie took their shotguns and instead of fishing, they went with Bella somewhere where they could safely practice. They set up some targets. Charlie and Harry loaded their guns and gave it a few tries. Then Bella asked Charlie to let her take her turn and he hesitatingly did.

"Careful, it has some recoil," warned her Harry.

"Yeah, support her in this," whispered Charlie and scowled at his friend.

Bella took the first shot to get used to the recoil, then readjusted the butt-end on her shoulder and fired the second shot. The target was perforated. Charlie stepped forward to take the gun from her but Bella reached in her pocket and reloaded.

"Hey, where did you get that?" he asked.

"From the box," replied Bella curtly and started shooting again.

Charlie stepped back, dumbfounded. Harry could barely keep himself from laughing.

At the time, Jasper and Alice were running through the area. They heard the gunshots and stopped. Jasper looked at Alice.

"It's Bella and her dad!" she told him.

"He took her shooting?"

"She seems to be enjoying herself."

They crept closer. They witnessed as Charlie resolutely decided that it was enough. The target was completely obliterated anyway. When Alice and Jasper heard Bella beg for a few more shots, they realized that it was all Bella's idea.

"Intriguing..." mumbled Jasper when the three shooters left.

At Wednesday, Bella received a call from Sam. She left a note for Charlie and drove to La Push. Sam was already waiting for her, carrying a box under his arm. Jared was there as well. He had not phased yet but he was interested in what was happening. They loaded various junk in Bella's truck and drove to an isolated site not far from Bella's lab. Sam opened the box and took out a semi-automatic handgun and an ammo clip.

"Well, it looks... modern?" said Bella. She didn't know much about guns but it looked worthy of being carried by a soldier.

"Actually, it's an older model of CZ 75. Delta Force is using newer versions," explained Sam and told her the exact parameters of the gun but Bella didn't understand anything he said.

"Have you tried it?" asked Bella.

"Yeah, but we don't have much ammo since the gun itself wasn't exactly cheap," replied Sam.

They loaded the gun and Sam took two shots at a tree stump that was some twenty meters away. Bella couldn't help but notice that the weapon felt somewhat alien to Sam, which was no great surprise to her.

"It isn't inaccurate and there is no recoil for me," he commented.

Bella took the gun and fired. "Hm, maybe I could later find a way how to dampen the recoil on my copy," she remarked.

"Let's look at the ammunition first," said Sam.

Sam explained how the bullet was constructed and she carefully disassembled one. It wasn't exactly needed since she'd got an original to use as a blueprint but it helped. In the meantime, Jared collected the ejected brass cartridge cases. Bella took the bought gunpowder, lead and various junk. The boys watched her work and assisted her.

After an hour, Bella ran out of lead, powder, and the best materials for cartridge cases. They had a small stock of ammunition. She also made an extra clip. Each of them took several shots.

Afterwards, Bella focussed on the gun itself. After a brief inspection of it, she said, "The material of the barrel is of higher quality than the scrap you brought. That will slow things down."

"Why?" asked Jared.

"Rule number one: you can't transmute one basic element into another. Period."

"Why?" repeated Jared.

"Because nuclear powers are far stronger than electric ones," snapped Sam. "Even I know that."

Bella returned home afterwards. She was back at Saturday and met with Harry who knew a little about guns and helped her to disassemble the handgun and put it together again. Before the evening came, they had two guns instead of one.

Jacob cought up with her as she was preparing to go home and asked her, "Bella! Do you have a minute?"

"Yes?" she replied with a question in her tone.

"I was wondering... you know, since you are doing so well with guns, if you could help me with something."

Bella's eyes narrowed, she didn't want them to rely on her like that. Then again, they were all very welcoming. She measuredly answered, "Maybe. What do you need?"

Jacob took her to his garage and explained, "You see, after we gave you the truck, I've started to work on a Rabbit Volkswagen. I'm building it from a scratch, you know. The problem is, I don't have enough money to just buy the parts."

Jacob showed Bella two similarly looking mechanical parts, probably from cars. He held out one of the parts and continued, "Harry Clearwater lent me this one. It's from his car. It's a different type than I need but it's similar. I've found the second one on a junk-yard. It isn't in a working condition obviously."

"And you want me to fix it?" asked Bella.

"Well, yeah, that would be nice."

Bella thought about it for a moment and said, "I'm not a mechanical type but I'll try. Don't get used to it though, we have more important things to do."

"Yeah, I know. Don't you ever do something just for the fun though?"

Bella stared at him and then answered, "Solely for fun? No."

That was true. Unless something was necessary or offered a potential gain, Bella didn't do it. And that included her game with Edward. Fixing the attrited and rusty part for Jacob had its gain though - his gratitude. And so, Bella turned her attention to the part and started to fix it. She followed Jacob's instructions until the part was reasonably repaired.

"Thanks Bella, you are the best!" rejoiced Jacob when it was done.

"Yes, yes, I know. Now I need to go, Charlie is easier to deal with when he is well fed."

"Yeah, sorry I've kept you," apologized Jacob.

Bella got behind the wheel and reached for the ignition when Jacob asked her through a window, "Hey, have you meant it when you've said that you never do anything for fun?"

"Oh, I do a lot of things that I enjoy. Like improving my skills for hurting people. However, I don't see any reason why I should do something that brings me nothing else than joy, nor do I have the luxury of time to do so, that's all. Now if you excuse me."

As Bella's truck grew smaller in the distance, Jacob kept looking after it and wondered what kind of childhood she had.

At school, Bella and Edward continued with their occasional conversations. Edward tried to find more about her life before Forks and about the scent-covering perfume but he was unsuccessful on both fronts. He also found out that he couldn't trust his gift when dealing with Bella. It wasn't entirely careful from her but she used her fake thoughts to distract or mislead Edward many times.

Once, Mike Newton and his friends made a plan to do a trip to La Push at weekend. The trip was later cancelled due to bad weather but before that, Bella was approached and invited as well.

"La Push? This Saturday? Dad and me already plan to visit some friends there. Maybe I can meet you guys at the beach later?" replied Bella on the invitation.

Edward heard the whole conversation through the minds of Bella's schoolmates. When they met in a classroom, Edward told her, "So, your father has friends in La Push?"

Bella resisted the urge to ask him how he knew what she said and replied, "They are my friends too." After a brief hesitation, she emitted that she was visiting them sometimes on her own as well.

"Oh," acknowledged Edward. Something about the idea edged him.

"Have you ever been there yourself?" asked Bella and emitted a hint that she knew something about that.

"No, so far I haven't got the pleasure."

"Why?" asked Bella and grinned.

"Not sure. When we go hiking we usually go to more remote areas."

"Would you like to go there sometime?"

"Was that an invitation?" poked Edward, wanting her to give up.

"No, that was a question," pressed Bella.

Edward was thinking about what to tell her when Bella laughed and said, "I'm just kidding. I know about your deal with the Quileutes."

"You do?"

"Yes. If you try to come there, they'll kick your ass," replied Bella and accompanied her words with a very cliché vision of frightened Edward tied to a totem and a bunch of Quileutes dancing around him in a circle. Edward just gaped at the image and decided to stay silent.

"Although, I think I could try to get you a permission to come there," continued Bella.

"No, that's all right," refused Edward.

Bella also made better acquaintance with Lauren through Jessica. That girl was a real bitch and didn't like Bella since the moment they met. In fact, it seemed that she didn't like anybody (though she had a bit of a reputation) and she wasn't able to pretend otherwise, unlike Jessica. Bella would normally walk away from her but her passive skills told her that Lauren was hiding something. She thought about a possibility that the girl might be actually as good as Jessica at pretending.

Bella looked towards Edward who was sitting at the other side of the cafeteria at that moment. It wasn't hard to guess what he thought about Lauren or any of the humans around him for that matter. Bella scratched her chin. Edward's ability was surely one of the certainties of his life. If she found out something that he couldn't uncover with his mind reading, it would be a nice under-belt to him. Then again, maybe there was nothing great to find and she would be just wasting her time. Hence, she decided not to dedicate too much time to her little pet project.

Bella turned her focus on the salve she promised to Emily. In two more weeks, she handed it to her. She thought that maybe a surgeon would be able to help Emily more but she didn't say anything.

"It should regenerate the damaged muscles," she said instead. "Then we can think about further treatment."

"Thank you Bella! I won't forget this," said Emily and hugged Bella. Then she started to apply the solution on her face.

"If it won't work I can make a stronger version. But I guess it will do something sooner or later," added Bella. Sam appeared grateful for what she did. She intended to milk his gratefulness for all it was worth.

Bella started to spend more time with Charlie afterwards. When he returned home from work those days, he didn't find it empty often. Bella tried to watch more historical documents and discuss modern wars with him but he rarely humoured her. She also tried to persuade him to jog with her but he was only a little more agreeable to that. Realizing her deficits in the area, Bella also decided to start an extracurricular activity at school - she joined a club of modern history. The first time she attended, there was a surprise waiting for her.

"Hello Bella. I see that you too are interested in history," said Jasper, mirth in his golden eyes. Alice was sitting beside him.


	4. Thieves

Thieves

It was sunny again. Bella, Leah, Seth, Jacob and their friends were hanging out by the sea. Charlie, Billy, Harry and Sue were sitting on a bench next to a parking lot above the beach. Billy turned his face towards the sun, closed his eyes and smiled - every sunny day was a day when the Cullens had to hide. It was middle of autumn and everybody was enjoying last not-so-cold days they were going to get that year, temperature was going to only decrease afterwards.

Bella and Leah were walking a little distance away from the others. Bella was sharing an idea with Leah, "What about becoming a wolf and then tormenting the whole pack with images about what was between you two?"

"Yeah, and how would I became a wolf?" asked Leah.

"I don't know. By hanging around the Cullens on purpose?"

"No, thank you."

After a while, Leah continued, "I just don't know why it happened. Why did this imprinting bullshit had to upturn our lives?"

"You know, I've been thinking..." said Bella after another while.

"Yeah?"

"Would Sam ever meet Emily if he wasn't close to you first?"

"What a hell are you saying?"

"What if you two subconsciously felt that you need to stick together for the imprint to happen? I mean, you were supposed to be friends, not a couple. Or maybe he was simply able to smell that he needs to search among your relatives to find a genetically perfect counterpart."

"That's creepy."

"Maybe. But it's something worth observing in the future. And you are better off without him anyway - you two are distantly related."

Leah rolled her eyes and responded, "Oh come on. You and your phobia."

"If your parents were related, you would have a phobia as well!"

Later that day, Bella met with Sam. He told her about his shape-shifting ability and the lore connected to it. They analysed how it worked. At one point, Sam was unable to describe, in words, the process of the actual change - what was he feeling, how he initiated it and such.

"Sam, would you agree to show me instead? In your mind?" asked Bella.

Sam seemed to be uneasy with the idea.

"I'll just look at what you'll show me, honest," added Bella when she saw his hesitation.

"Very well," agreed Sam. Bella had told him some things about organising his mind before. Sam used it to push the required thoughts to the forefront of his mind. They looked each other in the eyes and Sam said, "I'm ready."

Bella watched as Sam replayed the whole process of shape-shifting in his mind. When they broke the eye connection, Bella voiced another idea, "That was interesting. But maybe I would get better readings if you actually changed."

Sam thought about it and replied, "Why not. But my thoughts are usually all over the place during that. Wait here."

Sam left the room and Bella heard him opening wardrobes and drawers. When he returned, he was loosely wrapped in a blanket.

Bella whistled when she saw him and remarked, "I wonder how it would look like to Emily if she walked in right now."

"Shut up," snapped Sam.

They made an eye contact and Sam phased. What Bella found out was more "colourful" than a mere memory but also much more confusing.

"Have you learned anything useful?" asked Sam when he returned, fully clothed again.

"Well, it differs from what's written in the book I've brought. It's far more natural for you. I'm sure you have some werewolf blood in you."

Bella had her theories about how it really was with Taha Aki but she knew better than to share them with the others.

* * *

><p>"Why are we even discussing this? She is just another human!" exclaimed Rosalie.<p>

Cullens were having a meeting. About Bella.

Carlisle dryly responded to that, "Rosalie, there are humans which can't be described as "just another"."

"Half the time I can't trust what I hear from her and Alice can't see her sometimes," added Edward.

Jasper nodded and the told the others, "Something is off about the girl. My gift works on her but I suspect that she can guard her feelings as well. Most of the time I get nothing unusual from her but sometimes... sometimes it almost feels as if she was playing with us. Not to mention that there were cases in which her feelings were very different from her behaviour and her alleged thoughts."

"Playing with us?" repeated Emmett amusedly.

"I know it sounds strange," replied Jasper.

"Maybe we should leave," proposed Edward.

"Aye," agreed Jasper.

Rosalie stood up and exclaimed, "No! I don't want to move again!"

"Rosalie, calm down," said Carlisle to her and then turned to Edward. "How are you handling your thirst?"

"I'm fine, she is still using that perfume. But she will run out one day and if she can't remember how she made it..."

"Have you tried to find out more from her?" asked Esme.

"Yes. I didn't learn anything though."

"Well, we could take a sample and analyse it," proposed Rosalie.

Carlisle considered it for a moment and then said, "Very well. Try to get in her bag or locker and take some of that solution. Make sure that you aren't seen."

Getting the sample proved to be more difficult than they expected. The perfume wasn't in her locker and there weren't many opportunities to get in her bag. Only Edward shared a class with her.

He made his move after that class. Bella turned her back to him when she was collecting her books. Edward quickly reached in her bag where he smelled the perfume but Bella suddenly turned back. He quickly pulled his hand back but she saw him nonetheless.

"What are you doing?" snapped Bella.

"Excuse me?" asked Edward.

"You were taking something from my bag!"

"No, I was just shifting it out of my way."

Bella took the bag and looked inside. Everything seemed to be in place and nothing was added. She put her books in the bag and told Edward to stay out of her things. She glared at him and left.

And so, Edward and Alice found themselves in the part of the town where Bella lived that night. As they approached, Alice saw the fluctuation again. She had been seeing it during the evening ever since they had decided to break in Bella's house.

They approached the spot where it was supposed to take place and waited for a while. They glanced at each other and stepped forward. Both of them looked around but it seemed that nothing happened. Moreover, Alice's vision cleared. They just shrugged their shoulders and continued.

However, something did happen. Bella stirred in her sleep and then quickly woke up and jumped from her bed. _"Shit, they are coming after all!"_ she thought.

_"She's awake,"_ thought Alice to Edward when they arrived to the house.

"I know, she needs to use a toilet," hissed Edward back. Then he asked, "Why didn't you see it earlier?"

"She wasn't awake before, nor was she going to wake up," answered Alice.

Inside, Bella waited for an attack. When it didn't came, she realized that she needed to live up to her thoughts and headed towards the bathroom. Not wanting to be caught while taking a leak, she just turned the water on and splashed her face.

In the meantime, Alice and Edward scaled the wall and got in Bella's room. They quickly located the perfume and took a sample. They were gone again in a few seconds.

Later, Bella carefully returned to her room. Then she looked around the house. She was somewhat confused and couldn't fathom why they came at all.

She went to her room again and quickly inspected it. Her "perfume" was one of the first things she checked and learned that there was less of it. She contemplated if it was going to be a problem. Then she found out that one of her dirty socks was missing. _"Dammit! Now they have my scent,"_ thought Bella and envisioned Edward giving the sock to a bunch of bloodthirsty vampires.

In the meantime, Alice and Edward ran back to the house.

"You took her sock!" exclaimed Alice as they were running.

"Yes, I need to desensitize myself to her scent," replied Edward and sniffed at it.

"Ugh! Not in front of me, it's thoroughly repulsive. And why you didn't take both of them? Do you know what a nuisance it is to have an odd sock?"

Edward laughed and answered, "That's the beauty of it - taking both socks would be suspicious since you don't loose a whole pair often. However, misplacing one of the pair isn't anything unusual."

They arrived home and handed Carlisle the sample.

"Why do I smell Bella here?" asked Rosalie.

"Edward stole her sock," answered Alice and ignored Edward's glare.

Emmett loudly laughed at that and said, "Way to go, Eddie-boy!"

"Shut it Emmett!" growled Edward and went to his room to sniff at his loot.

"Maybe you have a fetish for feet and socks? I guess there is something about it," continued Emmett and dropped to the floor to sniff at Rosalie's shoes.

In the meantime, Carlisle opened the vial with the sample and held it to his nose. He managed to detect some of the basic components and residual reagents but the majority of the composition remained unknown to him. Chemical tests did not reveal much more.

When Edward and Bella met the following day at school, he was able to tell that she was tense about something. When he asked, she answered, "I'm missing a sock. The thing is, I haven't misplaced it, it just disappeared. Almost as if somebody stole it."

"Don't be ridiculous Bella, why would anybody steal a sock from you?"

"To irritate me? I've been searching for it the whole morning and I'm going to keep searching for in the afternoon until I find it!"

Edward swallowed a little of venom and proposed, "You know, that's probably a waste of time..."

Bella interrupted him, "I'm just kidding. At least I'll have something to tell the girls at La Push today."

"Do you think they would find it interesting? Maybe..."

"Yes, definitely. Look at how worked up you got over that stupid sock."

When Billy heard what happened, he came with an idea, "Well, I think it's time to call Carlisle again." He chuckled at the idea of prodding him again.

Billy called the hospital again and asked for Dr. Cullen.

_"Why the hell does he keep ambushing me here when I'm alone?"_ thought Carlisle and considered refusing the call but then he told the receptionist to patch it through.

"What do you want again?" asked Carlisle instead of a greeting.

"Why did you stole Bella Swan's sock? What do you need her scent for?" asked Billy in a threatening voice.

"I have no idea what are you talking about."

Carlisle was shocked, Edward had stolen the ruddy sock just previous night!

"Don't play with me. I heard that Bella Swan said that on of her socks disappeared and that somebody broke into her room. I know it was you."

Carlisle thought about a best way to solve the situation. Then he replied, "Mr. Black, we can't keep discussing such things over this line. We don't know who is listening here at the hospital. Could you give me your number?"

"Sure," replied Billy, dictated it and hung up.

Carlisle called him from his cellphone right away and said, "I admit, my son stole the sock. Bella sits next to him at school. When a human is that close to one of us due to circumstances and smells good, it's more comfortable for us to get used to his or her scent."

"Very well. Remember that we are watching you. Except when you are on a toilet. No, wait a minute - you don't need..." said Billy but Carlisle pressed the cancel button.

Bella and Billy looked at each other and Bella said, "So, if what he said can be trusted, I smell better then others for some reason. But only to Edward, since others don't have such a reaction to me."

"What are you going to do?" asked Billy.

"Well, I've decided to meet then halfway since they already have my sock and can take a chair I've been sitting at from the school any time they want for that matter."

"How?"

"I'll give Edward another piece of clothing. But this time, I'm going to track it. At least for a week."

Carlisle and others continued with more advanced analysis of the stolen sample that day but with no results.

Next day after their shared class, Bella gave Edward a plastic bag.

"I've got something for you," she told him.

Inside was an old, big shirt. Edward raised an eyebrow in a question.

"Somebody at La Push advised me to give it you when I told them that you have a problem with my scent. And yes, I do realize that it's a bit creepy."

"You told them about the whole smell thing? That will only feed their paranoia."

"Relax, they don't take it seriously, they just like pushing you. I think."

Bella collected her books and told Edward before she left, "I expect the shirt and the sock back. And I expect no more of my clothing to disappear."

Edward was left staring after her, dumbfounded. When he and his siblings got home from school that day, he went to his room right away and took Bella's shirt from the bag. After a while of sniffing at it, he took his own off and replaced it with Bella's.

Edward was so distracted that he didn't even notice Emmett approaching until he stuck his head in his room and teased him, "So you're switching clothes with each other now?"

Rosalie did not take the whole thing with such mirth. She was furious because Edward had generated so much heat and attention with his stunt. The fact that they used up the whole sample of Bella's perfume and did not became any wiser about it's composition not to mention production didn't raise her mood.

There was some tension between Bella and Edward for the rest of the week. It was relaxed though at the beginning of next week when Edward brought Bella's things back and she gave him something new. She also started to apply the perfume less than before. Edward couldn't believe that Bella didn't find the whole arrangement weird. Jasper detected some suspicions at first but those dissipated soon.

When things settled, Bella started to plot a new way to rattle Edward's cage. She got a great idea after some time but she needed Quileutes' approval first. She drove to La Push at the first opportunity and told them about her plan.

"What kind of dumb idea is this? Why should we do this at all?" asked Billy sternly.

"Because I'm bored and I want to amuse myself by perplexing the Cullens?" answered Bella innocently.

That wasn't true - Bella never did anything without a reason. Her statement raised a series of shouts from the others.

Bella sighed and pleaded with them, "Oh come on. It might speed things up for the candidates that aren't changing yet. And it will be a chance to learn more about them and what they want. Like they say: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"And who says that we want to speed up anything?" snapped Harry.

Billy didn't second that, it would fill him with great pride if his son phased, and so he just said, "Also, the mind reader could uncover us."

"I would teach you how to prevent that. And those who would have problems would go somewhere away for a while."

Billy smirked. He thought that if Bella wanted to teach them, then they were talking about something that was half a year away - a half a year in which Bella would surely forget about the whole thing or possibly leave. However, when he voiced this, Bella corrected his estimate.

"One month at max, probably sooner," she said.

"What?" shouted several people at once.

"How much could you possible teach us in that time-frame?" asked Harry.

"Oh come on, I've already explained the basics to you and his talent isn't very powerful. On a side note, I'm glad that you are accepting my plan on a principle, now I just need to convince you that it can be done so soon," replied Bella.

Others were slightly dumbfounded at how they got sidetracked and told Bella once again to forget the whole thing. That was however something that Bella wasn't willing to do. If she succeeded, the Cullens' reaction would be interesting to watch and it would be a great opportunity to bring Edward out of his shell. Also, as a side effect, she would do something healthy for Charlie.

Bella started her plan the following week by subtly asking Charlie about his diet while he was at work. She wanted to know where and what he was having for a lunch and what snacks was he eating.

"Oh come on Bella! Do I control what do you eat at school?" exclaimed Charlie.

"No, because there's no need to. When did you have your cholesterol checked the last time?" opposed Bella.

She already suspected the answer - Billy told her that Charlie wasn't taking a very good care about himself in the past seventeen years.

"That's my business. Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm your daughter?" hissed Bella in reply. That stopped her in her tracks for a moment and she went upstairs. She herself didn't know what actually angered her - Charlie's stubbornness or the fact that she slipped and called herself his daughter.


	5. Trip to a Hospital

Trip to a Hospital

Jacob and Bella were driving in her truck, returning from a scrap-yard. He managed to talk her into helping him to obtain yet another spare part for his car. They had found a piece that Bella deemed fixable, even though they had no original to use as a blueprint. They passed the Markses' house on their way home.

"What's that?" muttered Jacob.

Mr. Marks was at a yard, tinkering with a motorbike. When Bella saw it, it brought some memories to her. They noted that Mr. Marks was trying to fix the bike. It wasn't going very well obviously. Bella stopped the car when they were out of sight.

Bella said, "My father had got one of those."

"Why did he get it?" asked Jacob.

"For fun, I guess. He and his friends did a lot of... customizations on it. In the end, it proved useful to have backup means for fast transport."

Bella told Jacob all about it. He was smiling and his eyes glowed when he imagined the possibilities.

"Let's take a closer look," he said when Bella finished.

They got out of the truck and crept back to Markses' house. In the meantime, Mrs. Marks came out and started to argue with her husband. She wanted him to get rid of those machines since they were broken anyway. Apparently, there was another one somewhere out of sight. Jacob and Bella looked at each other.

"Do you think what I think?" asked Jacob.

"Indeed," replied Bella. "We can sneak in tonight and nick those bikes. He's going to think that his wife is responsible."

Jacob was aghast and retorted, "What? No, no. I've just thought that if we wanted to get those bikes, we could wait a little until she really persuades him to get rid of them. Then we can buy them or just pick them up when he drops them at a junk-yard."

"That's another option. However, they might be rusty by that time."

Jacob nodded and said, "We'll see what we can do."

Bella met Mrs. Marks "by a chance" at a grocery store a few days later. Mrs. Marks was glad to meet the chief's daughter and the two of them got talking. Bella managed to manipulate Mrs. Marks into telling her about those infernal machines of her husband. Then Bella suddenly "remembered" that her father's friend was at a tribal council in La Push, that they could use a backup generator at the tribal hall and that he had a son who had mechanical skills.

In then end, Jacob and Bella managed to buy those bikes at a symbolic price. They started to work on them in a similar way they worked on the Rabbit. It was in fact even easier since they didn't need to build them from a scrap, they just needed to fix them. Unfortunately, Bella didn't have much time so the progress wasn't as fast as Jacob would wish.

At school, Bella was very slowly getting closer to Edward, Alice and Jasper. She represented a certain enigma for Alice and even more so for Edward since her mind was gradually becoming more and more silent. Jasper found it curious that somebody as interested in modern history as Bella could be so ignorant about it at the same time. Emmett was also intrigued about her but he respected Rosalie's opinion that they should stay away from the human.

During the times when she could observe Jasper's behaviour, she recognized that he also had a problem with controlling his thirst. But unlike in Edward's case, Jasper's thirst was targeted at every human around. Also, while he probably found Bella more appealing than others, it was nowhere near Edward's blood-lust. Bella deduced from this that whatever made Edward more thirsty wasn't just about her but about both of them.

One day, Bella asked after a class, "Edward, your dad works at the hospital, right?"

"Yes, he does," answered Edward, wondering where was Bella going with her question.

Bella bit her lip and started to explain, "Look, the thing is a little difficult. My dad, he wasn't taking a very good care of his health lately and he's now reaching the age when..."

Her explanation was long, polite and convoluted but her thoughts were clear, _"I need your dad to help me get my dad to hospital and check him up."_

Edward waited patiently until the end and then said, "I understand completely. I'll tell my dad and I'm sure he'll agree to help."

And so, the phone rang at the Swan residence later that week. Bella was nearest and picked it up.

"Bella Swan speaking."

"Hello Bella, this is doctor Cullen. Is your father there?"

"Yes, a moment please," replied Bella and then shouted, "Dad, for you."

Then she lowered her voice and told Carlisle, "Dr. Cullen, if you're calling why I think you're calling, I'm really glad. It means much to me."

"It's nothing. I'm happy to help."

Charlie arrived and Bella gave him the phone. When Carlisle introduced himself again, Charlie wondered why was he calling. When he asked, Carlisle answered, "Chief Swan, I've been going through the records and it seems that there was no visit from you for years."

Charlie frowned and replied, "So?" The last time he visited, some doctor asked him questions about his life regime and diet and told him to change it. Charlie wasn't willing to discuss his life with other people and never set foot in there again.

"I would like you to come here and let me to check your blood pressure and such."

"Dr. Cullen! I don't think that's necessary."

"I beg to differ. However, if I find nothing bad I won't bother you ever again."

"I'll think about it," said Charlie because he wanted to get rid of Carlisle.

He was somewhat disgruntled afterwards and flopped himself on a sofa in front of TV, a can of beer and a bag of chips at hand. Bella knew better than to talk to him when he was in such a mood (and when he was suspecting that she was involved for that matter) and went to her room. She was determined to get him to Carlisle though. She also knew that it would take some time.

In the meantime, Bella was intensively preparing her friends at La Push for a possible encounter with Edward. They didn't agree with her yet but they weren't willing to refuse her tutoring. Some of them were promising, Jacob and Leah included, while others were hopeless. Seth didn't know as much as the others but he was invited as well. His performance was somewhat peculiar - while his mind wasn't disorganized, it was to a certain degree against his opened nature to hide his thoughts.

Bella remained steadfast in her struggle to get Charlie to Carlisle. It wasn't until next week when Charlie, instead of refusing outright, said an actual excuse.

"Oh come on Bells. What would people think if they saw me there? In town this small, they would surely gossip that I have some medical problems or something."

"Well, we can make it look like I've got my wrist sprained."

Charlie reiterated that Carlisle would surely think something about that and Bella reminded him that it probably wouldn't be the case since Carlisle's family was already the main target of gossip in town. After much convincing and one more call from Carlisle, Charlie finally gave in.

The following week, Bella and Charlie arrived to the hospital after Charlie's shift ended. Bella's hand was wrapped in a makeshift bandage. They told the receptionist that Dr. Cullen was expecting them and sat down in the waiting area.

"So, I've heard that you've sprained your wrist, Bella," said Carlisle after he greeted them in his office shortly afterwards.

"Well, I think I can handle it myself. Maybe you can check my dad in the meantime?" replied Bella and took a better bandage from her pocket and started to wrap her hand.

Carlisle took a sample of Charlie's blood, measured his pressure and such. The results weren't as catastrophic as Bella and Billy expected (probably thanks to all the fish Charlie ate) but still worse than they should be for somebody of Charlie's age.

"Well chief Swan, I advise you to guard your diet. I'm sure that Bella will be happy to help you with that. Also, you should have more exercise," said Carlisle in the end.

Charlie just grunted something and Bella replied, "Thank you doctor, I'll make sure of that."

As they were preparing to leave, Bella voiced her gratefulness to Carlisle again, "Dr. Cullen, thank you for what you did for my father. It was really nice from you."

"It was nothing Bella, just doing my job," replied Carlisle.

Bella cocked her head and asked, "Do you two know each other from before?"

"Well, now when I think of it, not particularly," answered Charlie. Of course he knew Carlisle but only by sight and name. They had never talked much with each other before or anything like that.

Bella raised an eyebrow and wondered, "The best doctor in town and the chief of police and you don't know each other from some kind of VIP circle?"

"Bella," reprimanded her Charlie.

Bella continued, "Maybe our families could spend some time together this weekend. It's been some time since I had an opportunity to cook for more people."

Carlisle eyes bulged. Did the girl just invited his family for dinner?

"Eh, Bella. I don't think we have so much room at home," Charlie told Bella in a low voice.

"True. What if I prepared a picnic instead? We could have it on a beach."

"That's nice of you but it really isn't necessary," Carlisle tried to politely refuse.

"Oh come on. At least you would finally see La Push!" pressed Bella.

"I don't think..." started Carlisle.

She interrupted him, "Oh, don't worry about the deal, I'll clear it out with Billy Black."

Charlie stopped smiling shyly for a moment and asked, "Deal?"

Bella and Charlie left without making any concrete plan with Carlisle.

"Do you have to be always so... assertive? Has it occurred to you that they might have their own plans?" slated Charlie Bella in the car.

"Oh come on. At least the kids at the rez will have an opportunity to see that there's nothing to be afraid of about the Cullens."

At the first possible opportunity, Bella drove to La Push and told Billy and others about what happened. It took some convincing and Bella promised to add some perks to Billy's wheelchair (though it wasn't her area of expertise at all) but in the end, Billy made a phone-call to Cullens' house. Esme picked it up and after she got over the slight surprise, she handed the phone over to Carlisle.

Billy told him, "Dr. Cullen? Bella was here and I believe that you already suspect what she asked me to do."

"Yes. I'll come up with some excuse," replied Carlisle.

"No need, it would look suspicious. In accordance to our agreement of not exposing you, consider yourself invited to our reservation."

This was a shock to Carlisle and everybody who listened.

"I'm not sure if I understood you correctly."

"I mean that you can come. It will be a one time exception. But don't bring your whole family, make some kind of excuse for those who won't come. Also, this visit won't be used to gather information about our people and snooping around. You are not to wander anywhere alone, you'll stay with your escort all the time and you'll enter the reservation and leave with the Swans. And if any of you have any special powers, they won't be used for what I've said earlier."

Carlisle thought about Edward at that last sentence. "You don't really have to do this," he said.

"Let's just say that I'm Charlie's friend and I can appreciate what you did for that bullet-head. Also, feel free to bring your son Edward, we would like to observe his behaviour around Bella."

Carlisle agreed after a brief consideration. He felt that something was off about the Quileutes and wanted to get to the bottom of it. They explicitly invited Edward whose gift couldn't be turned off. The treaty didn't require them to uncover their powers which was what they would do if Edward didn't come along. As such, Carlisle didn't feel that it would be too dishonest to let Edward find out what was going on in La Push.

Carlisle turned to his family and told them, "We shall accept their offer." They agreed that only Carlisle himself, Esme and Edward would come.

And so, two humans and three vampires found themselves driving to La Push at weekend. Charlie and Bella drove in the cruiser in the front and Carlisle, Esme and Edward followed them in Emmett's Jeep. The whole experience was a little surreal for Charlie. Only a few months ago his life was a sad and lonely excuse for existence lightened only by his friends from La Push. Then suddenly, his daughter had come to live with him and they were about to have a picnic with another family. And the three Cullens? They felt equally weird.

Both cars arrived to the coast. They passed Billy's house on their way. He was sitting at the porch and waved at Charlie and Bella. Then he nodded toward the Cullens, his face was stern.

Both cars stopped at the parking lot above a beach and they all got out. Carlisle and Esme warily looked around themselves, Edward was already listening to thoughts around them. Charlie started to take things out of the trunk and shyly smiled at the doctor and his wife. He wondered if it was sheer politeness that stopped them from refusing to come.

"What a nice day!" stated Bella, looking up at the light-grey sky. She grabbed a cooler with food and set out to the beach.

The others followed after her. The three Cullens were seen by some Quileutes who weren't privy to any supernatural stuff happening in La Push and Forks. Those who recognized them couldn't help but stare. Charlie noticed and glared back at them. He was starting to feel really awkward when a help came in the form of Harry and Sue taking a walk (for Harry's health presumably). They greeted them in quite a civil manner and walked with them for a while and made small-talk before they parted. Edward listened to their thoughts.

"They know about us," whispered Edward at a volume that made it possible only for his adoptive parents to hear.

_"That was to be expected,"_ thought Carlisle.

Something else unnerved Edward however. He decided not to say anything yet.

They arrived at the beach and found a spot to set up folding chairs and blankets. It wasn't time to eat yet so Charlie just took out some drinks. He wanted to start a conversation with the Cullens but suddenly found himself at loss about what to say. To his defence, it was their vampiric nature which he subconsciously perceived that made him so nervous. Carlisle realized that and started to consider topics to talk about when Bella broke the ice and told Carlisle that she started to feed Charlie even healthier then before.

Carlisle smiled, replied that it was good to hear and told Charlie, "Well chief Swan, you are very lucky to have such a caring daughter."

"I know," replied Charlie awkwardly.

During this exchange, Edward started to notice that there were gaps in Charlie's mind where Bella was concerned, like his mind was subconsciously avoiding thinking about certain facts about Bella. He heard him thinking that Bella was a real treasure and saw how happy he was that she had moved to Forks. The reasons for her move were rather vague though. Edward just dismissed that for the time being.

After a few minutes, Jacob and Leah came to hang out with them for a while. While the adults maintained a light conversation and took a small stroll to the other side of the beach and back, Edward and the three kids formed their own group. They talked mostly about school.

After several minutes, Edward realized that both Jacob and Leah knew what he was. He was infuriated. _"What were the elders thinking? If they told children, who else knows as well?"_ he thought. But what really troubled him was the fact that it took him several minutes to find out.

When the time to eat came, Bella wondered what were the Cullens going to do. After all, beach was a bad place to discreetly throw food over one's shoulder. They managed just fine though. They took only a small amount of food and either hid it in their pockets or quickly buried it under sand.

Another problem occurred though. As they were eating, Edward noticed that the burn in his throat was increasing. Then he realized that Bella's perfume was wearing off in the breeze coming form the see, not that she had applied it too heavily that morning.

Carlisle noticed Edward's anxiety and thought to him, _"Edward, calm down. You can do this."_

Edward nodded, limited his breathing and then actually ate the remaining food on his plate. He swallowed it so quickly and his mouth was so full of venom that he didn't even notice how it tasted (presumably, whether it tasted like dirt or like mud). Bella smirked when she saw it, she hoped that one of them would actually taste the food.

After the picnic, they walked to nearby ocean ponds. Soon, it was time to go home. They returned to their cars and drove away.

"That was nice, wasn't it?" asked Bella in car.

"Yeah," replied Charlie. He was glad that it hadn't ended with some kind of catastrophe or flummox.

When Carlisle, Esme and Edward returned home, they held a meeting with the rest of their family where they recounted the events from their trip.

"They were blocking me," said Edward when he described what he heard from Quileutes.

"Excuse me?" asked Carlisle.

"They were hiding their thoughts, like you do sometimes. They were doing somewhat better job though."

"So we still have no idea what was that all about?" asked Rosalie.

Carlisle reacted to that, "Why does it have to be about something? What if they were simply glad that I helped their friend? What if they wanted to make a peaceful gesture?"

"I still don't see how would that make them OK with Bella hanging around as all the time," mused Jasper.

"They are hiding something," said Rosalie, partially fracturing the sentence into separate words.

Others reacted to Rosalie's comments and contributed with their own views. Emmett didn't say much.

Edward left the house afterwards. He ran in the woods where he climbed on a high tree. He was thinking about all that was happening lately and suddenly realized that there was a difference in comparison with previous decades. He didn't feel much better but at least some of the boredom and apathy was gone.

He sat at the tree, lost in his thoughts, until night came. He watched the lights of Forks for a while and then jumped down. Then he tried to go home but turned back again when he got in mind reading range. He considered going hunting instead.

As soon as he thought about that, he remembered that he had not choked out the food he had eaten. To his amazement, he realized that he didn't actually felt anything lying in his stomach. He tried to gag nevertheless but to no avail. He asked himself if the over-abundance of venom caused by Bella's presence decomposed the food. However, he had a nagging feeling that there was another explanation.

In the meantime, Bella finished cleaning blood from the cooler they had taken to the beach that day. She chastised herself for not finding an opportunity to discreetly throw out the remains of the food from the picnic sooner.

And at the same time as Edward was sitting on a tree and Bella was cleaning the cooler, Jacob Black was closing the door of his garage. He had done as much work as he could on the car and the bikes and was at a point in which he would need Bella's help to continue. He had a feeling that her interest in the Cullens would cause her to come even less often than before. He would be surprised if he knew with whom he was going to finish those bikes...


	6. Justice in Port Angeles

Justice in Port Angeles

"I'm confidant it's him," said Kim.

Bella took a printed picture from her and looked at the face of the man in it. It was from web pages of Texas police. Kim had seen the man when she had been in Port Angeles with her friends and from the way he had behaved and looked at her, she had gotten a hunch that something had been off. They had done some searching and her suspicions had been confirmed.

"Are you sure?" asked Sam.

"Yes, I am. I guess we report him to police," replied Kim.

"Hey, what happened to keeping a low profile?" opposed Bella. "Charlie would surely get involved."

"An anonymous tip to Port Angeles police doesn't have guaranteed results," stated Sam. "Not to mention that mere presence of such a person in this area will make waves."

Bella looked at the picture again and agreed, "If you think so. Now when I think about it, I'm getting bored again..."

"You had your trip with the Cullens less than two weeks ago!" exclaimed Leah.

"And I believe that Billy is still waiting for those upgrades to his wheelchair," added Sam.

"Yes, I'll get to it. All the same, if you insist on resolving this, I want you to stay out of it," replied Bella. "This is something that requires certain inconspicuousness."

Others agreed hesitatingly. Bella turned to Kim, looked in her eyes and asked her to think about the encounter.

* * *

><p>Edward and his siblings were sitting in the cafeteria again. Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie were silently talking to each other. Edward ignored them and focussed his attention at the table where Bella was sitting instead. Angela and Jessica were considering going to Port Angeles. He didn't pay much attention when they said why but he started to when Bella spoke.<p>

"Port Angeles? Do you mind if I come?" she asked.

Jessica was surprised a little to hear that, Bella never spent time with her schoolmates outside of school. She asked, "You want to come to Port Angeles with us?"

"Yes, I would like to see more than the airport from it," replied Bella.

"OK, sure. We'll pick you up," said Jessica and Angela nodded.

Edward frowned. He could tell from Jessica's thoughts that she considered it as an opportunity to fish something more about Bella.

When Friday came, Jessica and Angela came for Bella. Bella left a note for Charlie in case he would forget her instructions concerning the dinner she had prepared for him in advance and got in Jessica's Mercury.

Some time after that, Edward found himself aimlessly driving out of Forks. Once again, he found it better to remain out of the house. He considered hunting but he wasn't particularly hungry. So he just drove. When he got to a point where he had to turn in one direction or another, he remembered that Bella was in Port Angeles that day. He turned in that direction without thinking about it too much.

In the meantime, Jessica and Angela were having fun at the town. Bella didn't though, she was quite bored. They stopped at a store to buy some clothes. That is, Jessica and Angela were buying, Bella was just commenting. She looked around the shop herself but found nothing that suited her.

When they finally left, Bella excused herself and told the girls that she needed to visit a book store. They agreed to part ways and meet an hour and a half later at a restaurant. As soon as the two girls were out of sight, Bella started to pursue her real goal. She searched various parts of the town where the target could be while doing her best to blend in and remain unseen.

At the time, Edward parked his car. It wasn't difficult to notice Jessica's thoughts, that girl was bothering him with them for last few years. He pondered about all that was recently happening between his family and the tribe. He wondered whether they haven't been using Bella somehow, for example to gain information about them. After all, Charlie was their friend so it wasn't difficult for them to get to her.

It was an hour later when Bella finally caught a sight of the man from the picture. She saw him and a friend of his to enter a pub. The light was dimming already. There was a store with second-hand books across the street. She went in and looked around, while keeping an eye on the entrance to the pub.

In the meantime, Edward wondered why he couldn't hear Bella's thoughts. He considered starting the car and making a visual contact with the girls when he heard Angela think, _"I hope that Bella didn't get lost."_

That gave Edward a pause. He reached for the ignition and rested his hand on the key as he considered searching for Bella. His hesitation lasted for about a second and then he turned the key in ignition and drove away from the parking place. He wondered whether he should worry when he received a phone-call from Alice.

"Edward? I see you driving around the town, frantically searching for something," she said.

That meant that he should be worried. He started to purposefully scan any minds in range and accelerated the car. He replied, "Thank you Alice. Please, try to look for Bella."

"Bella? Edward, what's happening?"

"I don't know, I have a bad feeling."

"OK, I'll try."

In the meantime, Bella found a book written by a veteran from Vietnam. It was about his experiences from the war. Bella started to browse through it.

"Hey, are you going to buy something?" asked the shop-keeper after some time.

"Sure. I'd like this one," replied Bella and paid for the book. "I'll look around some more if you don't mind," she added.

After several minutes, Bella saw the two men joined by another two friends leave the pub. They were slightly inebriated and weren't walking too quickly so she had no trouble catching up with them. She paced past them and remembered to discreetly "paint" them (to use some informal terminology she had learned recently). The four men seemed to notice her, especially their leader.

Several minutes after that, Edward detected their minds and saw that they were stalking somebody. He growled and considered returning to them once he found Bella. Then he realized that Bella was their target. His old homicidal instincts were suddenly reawakened in him and he sped up. Alice rang him briefly, probably to let him know that she knew what was happening and to call her if needed. Edward didn't even thought about trying to triangulate their position and just drove in their direction, which he was able to sense to some degree of accuracy.

Bella walked through an empty street calmly. Two of her pursuers were behind her, just around a corner. She knew that two others were waiting in front of her. She had a handgun with a silencer hidden in her jacket, her friends had insisted that she had had to take it with her. She wasn't about to use it though, mainly because she wasn't sure what exactly would be the police able to tell from that.

The situation got to a point where both sides of the street were barricaded by the men and she was in the middle. After a brief consideration, she looked in the eyes of the leader. Edward, who was closing fast at the moment, suddenly got a bigger insight into the leader's mind than it was possible for him. It was like he was for some reason thinking various things about himself - not only his immediate plans but also things he had been doing recently, the place he stayed at, his plans for the rest of the night and such. Bella was preparing for action when she felt Edward's probe.

_"What a hell is he doing here?"_ she thought.

Then she remembered herself and started to emit some slightly worried thoughts. Edward stopped next to her shortly.

"Get in the car," he ordered her.

"Edward?"

"Get in the car," he repeated. Bella obeyed him.

"I was supposed to meet Jessica and Angela at a restaurant a while ago but I think I've got lost a little," she said as they were driving away.

"A little?" exclaimed Edward. "Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?"

Bella tried to play stupid and asked, "Ehm, what?"

Edward glared at her in disbelief and retorted, "You don't want to know. How can you be so calm?"

Bella immediately regretted what she said and tried to mollify him, "I don't know. When you appeared, it brought me a strong feeling of safety."

That shocked Edward even more. Then he realized that Bella needed some sugar in her system. For a moment, he considered driving her to her friends and then going after the men. His upbringing was telling him otherwise though.

"What would you do if I didn't appear?" asked Edward warily. He was afraid that it might trigger Bella but he couldn't deny himself the satisfaction of rubbing in her incautiousness.

Bella didn't give him any though. She firmly answered, "I would kill them all!"

Edward just gasped when he heard that and shook his head. He concluded that the girl was either in some kind of shock or very cynical. They arrived at the restaurant after a while. Jessica and Angela were already finishing their meals.

"Bella! Where were you? We were worried," exclaimed Jessica. She wasn't worried at all of course, just irritated.

"Sorry, I've got lost a little. Luckily, I bumped into Edward."

Only then the two girls noticed Edward.

"That's ok, we are glad that you're all right," replied Angela after she shifted her gaze back at Bella.

"Are you going to eat something?" asked Jessica, irked by the fact that she would have to wait for her.

"No, let's go home," answered Bella.

Edward coughed and told Angela and Jessica, "Actually, I think Bella should eat something. I'll drive her home myself, so you won't have to wait."

"That really isn't necessary," protested Bella. She wanted to proceed with her plan.

"I insist," said Edward. The gentleman in him didn't want Bella going into shock while on route home.

Bella gave up and sat down. Jessica and Angela were leaving shortly and a waitress came to take Bella's and Edward's order. Edward wanted to order drinks but Bella beat him to it.

"Earl Grey," she said.

"Me too," added Edward.

The waitress stayed turned to Edward, awaiting a food order.

"I would like a bowl of Greek salad. Nothing for my friend, he's on a special diet," said Bella assertively.

The waitress looked questioningly on Edward, who nodded.

"Special diet?" asked Edward once they were alone.

"Isn't that why you never eat anything at school?"

"Well, maybe I would, if there was any food available at the cafeteria," replied Edward with a grin.

The waitress returned in a few minutes and put two cups of hot water, teabags and packages of sugar on the table. Bella let out an unsatisfied grumble and threw a teabag in her cup. Edward raised his eyebrow.

They made a small talk while they were waiting for food. Edward was trying to make sure that Bella was really all right and Bella tried to find out what was he doing in Port Angeles. Neither learned anything useful from the other since they were still relatively reserved with each other. Then the salad arrived and Bella stopped talking.

"I wanted to ask, what was that food you prepared for the picnic made of?" asked Edward after a while of silence.

"It's called meat and vegetables. Why?" answered Bella and kept eating.

"No particular reason," replied Edward. "It was just... good."

After Edward paid, they returned to the car. Edward accelerated once they were out of the town, he was planning to return soon.

"Why did you help me?" asked Bella suddenly.

"Excuse me?" asked Edward.

"Why did you get involved in the situation?" repeated Bella. She also considered asking "And how did you know that I was in trouble?" because it was a logical thing to ask but then she decided that avoiding Edward's suspicion wasn't so important any more.

"Because that's what every decent person would do. I couldn't possibly walk away from that."

"Well, most people would stay out of it. Or just gave an anonymous tip to police."

"Not me."

Bella watched Edward for a moment and then addressed him by his name. When he turned his head to her, she looked in his eyes and told him, "Thank you for what you did. I think you are a really good person."

Edward just looked back at the road and shook his head. They arrived to Forks soon and Edward dropped Bella at Charlie's.

"Don't forget to call Jessica and Angela," he reminded her.

"Will do," replied Bella. Then she leaned forward and before Edward could pull away, she kissed him on his cheek. She "painted" him while doing that.

After he drove away, she did as he told her and called the girls. She found out that Jessica and Angela returned back not long before her and were still hanging out at Jessica's, watching a movie. She invited Bella (probably to fish for details about her time with Edward) as well but she excused herself, claiming that she was tired and hitting the bed.

Bella did the exact opposite though. She called Sam and told him that she needed somebody to give her a lift to a safe distance from Forks. Then she went to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife that was there and a smaller one in addition. After she tried the blades, she grinned widely and ran out into the night to meet her driver at the end of the street. It was time to return to Port Angeles.

In the meantime, Edward and Carlisle decided what to do about the wanted criminal in Port Angeles. Edward shared with his father what he assumed was a strange anomaly in the strength of his gift.

"Maybe the anxiousness from Bella being in danger strengthened your senses?" proposed Carlisle. Edward dismissed the idea. He was sure that he didn't feel about Bella that strongly. Nevertheless, it was going to be easy to find their target thanks to the information he gained.

In Port Angeles, the four men were watching a rented porn tape in a small, dirty flat. Among the sounds of the TV, they missed a sound of an opening door. Suddenly, one of them gasped and tensed. There was a sound of a blade being pulled out of his body and he fell to the floor, a blood stain quickly spreading on his back.

The other three man just stared, not being able to comprehend what was happening. The unknown attacker used their shock and killed another by slashing his neck. That was when the two remaining men saw a shape in the air. One of them leaped back and hit a wall with his back.

"Holy shit, it's a fucking predator!" he yelled.

There was a swish and he was killed by a thrown knife. Only their leader remained and the shape started to gain some texture.

"You?!" shouted the sole survivor.

Soon, it was all over and the killer observed the carnage around her. She jerked her head suddenly, Edward was coming.

_"Hm, let's prepare a nice scene for him,"_ she thought and got to work.

When Edward and Carlisle arrived, they were welcomed by a reeking smell of blood. Carlisle's phone rang. It was Alice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see it," she apologized. "We'll come and help you."

They continued to the apartment. What awaited them inside was the most appalling sight they had ever seen. Pieces of body parts were strewn around the whole room, pools and splashes of blood were everywhere. There were even spots where the red liquid was still dripping. The porn flick was playing on the background, the screen was smeared with blood. Edward quickly turned it off, he considered it just as disgusting as the scene in front of him.

Edward looked at Carlisle and said, "Let's clean it."

Carlisle thought about it for a moment and replied, "I agree. Can you smell the killers?"

Edward sniffed the air. He could smell only the stench of the four men. Apart from that, there was only faint trace of Bella's fragrance, which Carlisle wasn't able to smell at all. Edward growled, he didn't realize that those monsters had gotten so close to Bella.

Both vampires started to clean the mess. They noticed that the blood was only in places where it could be cleaned easily. When they were joined by Alice, the worst was already gone. She was grateful for that - she suspected that she would be nauseated otherwise. Jasper waited outside for the time being since they didn't want him to be tempted.

Working at vampire speed, they were finished in less than two hours and left with several bags full of body parts and things drenched in blood. As they burned the evidence, they discussed possible explanations. The prevailing theories were that it was done by some locals or maybe by a family of one of the victims.

"Won't their killers wonder why there isn't anything on news about it?" asked Jasper.

"They'll probably think that the police identified the guy and decided to cover it up," replied Edward.

Afterwards, Edward headed back to Bella's house. It was past midnight already. When he got near enough, Bella woke up. A split of second afterwards, she felt Edward.

_"What a hell does he want again?"_ she thought grumpily. Then she took out remains of her "perfume" and put it on her desk, just in case.

Edward perched himself on a tree. He wasn't surprised much that Bella couldn't sleep. What confused him though were the thoughts he heard from her.

Bella moved around her room and kept emitting one casual thought after another. Then she sat down and read from the book she had bought that day. Finally, she had enough.

_"That's it, I'm not going to have a headache because of him tomorrow,"_ she thought (not emitted) and ended the fake mind trail.

Edward almost fell down from the tree - Bella's mind went completely silent. He scaled the wall and peeked in Bella's room. He let go of the ledge and fell down when Bella looked in his direction.

She slumped back in her bed and stared at the ceiling. After some time, she concluded that Edward wasn't leaving. She covered herself with a blanket again and went into a light half-sleep. Edward remained stationed on the tree and watched her for the whole night.


	7. Stalkward

Stalkward

Edward was still there when Bella woke up the next day. She groaned internally and went after her morning hygiene. After she made breakfast and Charlie came down, Edward decided to stop by at home to change his clothes and such. Bella wasted no time, hopped in her truck and drove to La Push.

Edward arrived home in the meantime. Rosalie welcomed him with thoughts, _"Where have you been the whole night?"_ The family was discussing some more things about the events of previous day. Edward joined them and Carlisle quickly briefed him through his thoughts about what had he missed.

Then Edward saw in Alice's mind a vision of Bella driving her truck. He was considering going after her when he saw that she was entering La Push. Wondering why was he so worked out, he decided to check on her after her return.

Bella arrived to the reservation and met her friends, who were waiting for news. Bella described everything in detail. The Quileutes were interested in Edward's involvement in the whole thing.

"Maybe he was stalking you and wanted to drain you!" poked Paul.

"And maybe he was stalking me because he is a weird and potentially unstable vampire," retorted Bella.

Bella decided not to hang around much and rather return to Charlie. Before leaving, she used the opportunity to have a short practice shooting session. She had to keep a silencer on because she was close to the village. It wouldn't do if she attracted attention of somebody who wasn't in the inner circle and who could possibly mention it to Charlie.

When Edward returned to Charlie's house, Bella was in the sitting room. She was exercising with weights which Charlie had found in the attic. She wore an old and worn tank-top. Edward couldn't help but notice that she was quite toned.

When Edward wasn't leaving, Bella walked out of the house and wandered to the edge of the woods where he was hidden. She dallied there for a while, as if waiting for something. As he wondered what was she doing there, she suddenly called out, "Edward?"

He was shocked. Did she know that he was there? She continued, "I thought I saw something from the house. Please, if you are here, stop being stupid and come out. After what you did yesterday, the least I can do is to show you some hospitality."

Edward stayed frozen on the tree, not knowing what to do. Bella shook her head, muttered something about a coward and went back inside. Edward dialled Alice's number.

"Couldn't you have warned me?" he asked.

"Warn you about what?" she replied.

Edward sighed, Alice obviously missed yet another thing. Or she saw it and thought that it would be fun to let it happen. For a moment, Edward thought about going home, taking a car, returning to Charlie's and meeting Bella. He would pretend that it was first time he came there that day. Then he dismissed the idea.

He returned home and asked Alice to keep an eye on Bella occasionally. He decided to try to play on his piano to relax. It was first time he played in a long time. Esme and Alice listened to him.

In the meantime, Bella prepared lunch. She convinced Charlie to go on a hike with her that afternoon. He tried to ask about Renee in an attempt for small-talk but Bella was as evasive as usually. Charlie sensed that Bella's mother was a sensitive issue for her so he dropped it. After all, it wasn't a pleasant topic for him either.

When darkness fell, Edward decided to check on Bella once again before leaving her alone for the rest of the weekend. He also wanted to know if she had told anything to Charlie. Charlie's thoughts revealed nothing unusual to Edward though. Bella's mind remained silent. Edward spied on the house until its inhabitants went to bed. Then he moved closer.

Bella was becoming irritated and wondered whether Edward was going to stalk her next day as well. As she thought about what to do, she decided that she would prefer to have him somewhere where she could see him. She also wanted to learn about his intentions, whatever they were. She took a more comfortable position in her bed and calmed her thoughts and breathing. She entered a deep state of meditation gradually.

Edward was perched on a tree next to the house and watched Bella's room through a window. Suddenly, he heard her breathing and heartbeat going down, until he almost couldn't hear either. He panicked a little and couldn't decide what to do for a moment. Then he bolted and was at Bella's window in a second. It was slightly opened.

Edward slid inside the room silently and stepped to Bella's bed. He whispered her name and leaned in to check her status when he realized that she was still breathing and her heart was beating, albeit faintly. Before he had time to process that, both vital signs returned to their normal level like an old jukebox being plugged in after it was plugged out whilst playing. Bella's eyes snapped open and her hand shot forward like a snake and in spite of his vampire reflexes, Edward was unable to evade her. She firmly grabbed him, locked eyes with him and breathed, "Boo!"

Edward was so surprised that he let out a small yelp and recoiled away from her. He would wrench free from her hand but Bella held him so hard that she was dragged with him instead.

"Hush, do you want to wake Charlie?" warned him Bella after she steadied herself.

Edward's eyes flickered to the window. Bella immediately knew what was he thinking about. He moved his other hand to pry Bella's away but she grabbed that one as well.

She threatened him, "Don't even think about disappearing in hope that I'll think I've dreamt it all. Don't move or I'll scream and tell Charlie that you've been here. Our friends at the rez will also hear about it. I don't know what's between them and your family but I'm sure they'll find it interesting."

Edward din't know what to do, think or even feel. He was angry and astonished at the same time. He wanted to use his strength, wrench himself free and maybe even reverse their positions and threaten Bella a bit. At the same time, he cursed himself for even thinking such thing, especially after what Bella had been through. Then again, she seemed quite unfazed by the events of previous night, as her behaviour proved. He also thought about what his screw-up might mean for his family.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Well, that's what I might ask you, if I didn't have a pretty good idea already."

Edward didn't say anything to that. He wanted to know how she managed to trick him but that would be like admitting that he could hear her heartbeat from outside the house. Also, since she was probably expecting him, he realized that she somehow knew that he was outside - just like that morning.

"The proper Edward Cullen, stalking an innocent girl," sneered Bella. "How unexpected."

"That's not... I was just worried about you," hastily explained Edward. As he felt the warmth of Bella's hands around his wrists, he realized that she had to feel his coldness.

"Well, unless I wasn't clear enough this morning, you are free to worry about me from somewhere where I can see you. It gives me creeps when you are hidden somewhere."

"I... I'm not sure..." stuttered Edward and meant that he wasn't sure what she meant by that.

"Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to come to the front door, knock and introduce yourself to Charlie. If you are for some reason enjoying the whole stealth part, then you can hide yourself from others. But please, you really don't need to hide from me since I already know what a weird bird you are."

"What do you want me to do?" asked Edward, who figured that the best way to prevent a disaster would be to play along.

"Well, you want to st... keep an eye on me and I want to figure your motives out. So, we can start by talking about this."

Bella pulled a rocking chair that was in her room next to her bed. Then she got back on her bed, assumed a comfortable half-sitting position and covered herself.

"There's another blanket in the armoire," said Bella and gestured to the rocking chair.

Edward was sure that the whole situation was awfully inappropriate, just like his own recent actions. Nevertheless, he sat in the chair and replied, "That's all right."

Bella studied Edward silently for a while. Then she asked, "You don't do this often, do you?"

"Definitely not. This is first time I've found myself in something like this."

"Are you talking about stalking or getting caught?"

"Both. And you?"

"Nope, this is definitely a novel experience for me as well."

She scratched her chin and gazed at Edward again. He unwittingly fidgeted in the chair, even though he didn't need to. Bella decided to find out more about his blood-lust. She understood that she had to be subtle about it.

"So, let's talk about the thing that probably started this all - my scent. Am I right, Edward?"

Edward nodded and answered, "As I hinted earlier, yes. But more things came up later."

"Like what?"

"I don't think I can tell you."

"Why not?"

Edward said first thing that came up in his mind, "Because you would think I'm crazy."

Bella decided to go on and diffuse some of his suspicions. She told him, "Well, I think I can guess on my own. Do you know how people sometimes talk aloud to themselves to help themselves think?"

"Yes?" replied Edward, not sure where she was going with that.

"Well, I do the same but not aloud. I talk to myself in my mind."

Edward was silent.

Bella continued, "Some time after we met, I started to occasionally project those thoughts to you. It was the first time I ever did such a thing. The point is, you almost always acted on those projected thoughts."

"So you think I could hear those thoughts?"

"Well, it sounds crazy but I'm sure it's true. I'm not sure how I'm doing it though. I've tried the same with Charlie but it didn't work. I don't think he's a good medium."

Edward laughed and decided to give away something. "To be honest, I think there's something to it. Sometimes I did have a feeling like I could hear you. Thank you for telling me, at least I know I'm not going mad." He couldn't believe that the girl thought that it was her doing, such an idea was ridiculous.

Bella looked thoughtful for a moment and then proposed, "Well, maybe it isn't my doing after all. Have you ever heard something from someone else?"

"Well, people don't usually emit their thoughts on me," said Edward. He suddenly didn't like all the lying and thus said something that was actually true. Even though he knew that Bella would understand the "usually" as "never". Then he added, "And I can't hear you any more actually."

"That's probably because I stopped these inner monologues," replied Bella and shifted from her sitting position and laid down on her side. She propped her head on her hand and said, "Well, let's not forget about the original topic. My scent."

"I've already told you. It's..."

"Distracting," filled Bella in.

"Yes."

"Now, is it pleasant?"

"As you could tell from my reaction the first day, not exactly. It depends on the point of view."

"It's not arousing, I hope."

Edward gasped at the question. "No," he replied firmly. When he thought about it though, he realised that there was a possibility that it might have been the case if the situation had been different. Very different.

"That's good, it would be weird otherwise. Not to mention that I'm not interested in boys and relationships much yet."

Edward nodded. It was one of the things they had in common.

Bella continued, "So, are you going to tell me about it?"

"I would rather not," replied Edward carefully.

"Is it potentially dangerous? Does it make you aggressive?"

_"If you only knew,"_ thought Edward. Aloud, he answered, "To some extent. But your perfume and the pieces of clothing are helping."

"OK. If it ever gets too much, let me know somehow and I'll remove myself from your company."

Edward stared at her in disbelief. Then he voiced his astonishment, "How can you be so accepting about this all? If it was Jessica in your place, she would freak out. Not to mention that she would discuss it with every living soul around."

Bella chuckled and replied, "Yeah, about that. I knew from the beginning that your family is somehow different. It bugged me until I talked with Billy Black and others. They immediately caught on and told me that they know everything about you and not to worry about it. They also instructed me not to talk to anybody about you, not even to Char... dad. That is, unless you did something truly unusual even for you - then I'm to report directly to them."

Edward chewed on that for a few seconds. He asked, "Well, that's nice of them. And yes, we know things about each other."

"They aren't giving you any trouble, right? Like, using what they know to blackmail you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, they aren't bad people but La Push isn't exactly financially..."

"No Bella, nothing of that sort," interrupted her Edward.

"Well, Charlie likes your family so he can help you if you ever needed it."

"Trust me Bella. Our deal with Quileutes is to stay out of each other's way."

Bella nodded in acknowledgement and laid on her back. Edward remembered the reason why he had come to her room in first place.

"There's one more thing," he said.

"Yes?"

"When I was outside earlier, I could tell that your vital signs were going down. It's probably this whole... mind thing, but it really scared me and I had to check on you."

"Oh, that. I'm sorry I startled you but that was just a calming technique to help myself fall asleep."

_"A calming technique?"_ exclaimed Edward internally but didn't say anything and just nodded.

Bella yawned and told Edward, "Now, as much as I enjoy your company, I don't know you well enough to let you 'stalk' me while I sleep. If you would please leave the house. Do you need me to let you out?"

"That's all right, I'll manage," said Edward and opened the window again. He made a show of struggling and then silently dropped down.

Edward ran to his house. As he neared it, he quickly scanned thoughts of its inhabitants. So far, only Alice knew what happened. They quietly stole away.

"Why didn't you warn me?" he whispered, careful not to be overheard.

"It was a split-second decision. By the time I saw it, it was already happening," answered Alice.

Edward nodded and ran his hand through his hair. He sighed, "I can't believe she caught me."

"Is she that fast?"

"For a human, definitely."

Alice thought for a moment and then proposed, "Maybe we shouldn't tell this to the rest of the family, apart from Carlisle maybe. Is she going to tell somebody? I don't see her doing such thing but she might do it in one of the gaps."

"No, she won't. Quileutes told her to stay silent. On the downside, she's reporting to them."

"That might pose a problem if she decides to tell them about this."

Edward nodded and said, "I'll try to talk to her tomorrow."

Alice's sight got unfocussed for a moment and then she informed him, "Very well, Charlie's going fishing."

"Thanks. I'll visit her then."

"And I'll talk to her at school at Monday. I'm becoming quite interested in her myself."

"Alice..." wanted to object Edward.

"No, Edward. You seem to be rather uncertain around her."

Edward did as he had said next day. Shortly after Charlie left, he knocked on the door.

"Through door? How ordinary," said Bella instead of a greeting.

"Well, you can open one of the windows for me if you wish," joked Edward.

Bella smiled and beckoned him to come inside. "I would offer you something but you wouldn't drink or eat anything anyway. Are you on a gluten free diet or something like that?"

"Something like that," repeated Edward.

Bella sat down on a couch, Edward remained standing. She watched him and waited for him to talk.

"Bella, I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"You said that you were reporting to Quileutes on us."

"I said that they asked me to. That's not the same thing."

"Are you going to tell them about my yesterday visit?"

"Nope. But be assured, they know enough to come after you should something untoward happen to me."

Such an idea was appalling to Edward. He quickly protested, "I wish you no harm."

"Could the same be said about the rest of your family?"

Edward looked down and answered, "More or less."

"Do they know about yesterday?"

"Only Alice."

"OK. She seems all right."

"Until she takes you shopping," corrected Edward dryly.

"Then I guess we won't be friends."

"She's going to be hurt by that."

Bella stood up and asked, "So, what are we going to do today?"

Edward hesitated. "I don't think I should be here. Without Charlie's permission I mean."

"Well, we can go outside and study. You could help me with Spanish."

"You don't like it much, I take it?"

"No, it's just that I've never learned Spanish before."

"What language did you have instead?"

"I know basics of French and Latin."

"I see. That's definitely something they won't offer you at the Forks high. You can practice those with me though, if you want."

Bella said something in broken French and Edward fluently answered. Then they did the same in Latin. Edward was surprised to learn that Bella's Latin was much better than her French.

Bella grabbed her books and notes. She donned a jacket and they went outside. They ventured to an edge of the wood where they sat on a log. Edward proved to be quite a good tutor. Bella told him that the school should hire him instead.

Later, Edward asked, "Bella, there's something I'd like to ask about you and your father if that's all right."

Bella made a face and replied, "If you must."

"I couldn't help but notice that sometimes you tend to call him Charlie. Is something wrong between you two?"

Bella shook her head and answered, "No, we are good. It's just that I'm not used to him very much."

Edward nodded and tried to get some insight about Bella's past. She wasn't very pleased by that.

"With all due respect, I don't stuck my nose in the secrets of your family and you will pay the same courtesy to me," she rebuffed him.

Edward didn't brought it up again. When the noon came, Edward said goodbye and returned home. Bella prepared some light food for herself and packed what she didn't ate for Charlie. Then she collected any suspicious book and notes that she still had at her house and drove to La Push. Before that, she remembered taking a quick shower to wash away Edward's smell.

First, she stored the notes and books in her shed. Then she picked up Seth and asked him to guide her to the place where Charlie and Harry were fishing. Both men were already closing up their trip when Bella and Seth arrived.

"Bella? I thought you weren't interested in fishing," greeted her Charlie.

"Yeah. But since I'm cooking those fish then I might see to their processing right from the beginning as well."

They stayed for while and Charlie and Harry ate the food she brought. Bella cleaned the caught fish in the meantime. When it was time, they returned home and Bella started to prepare the catch for the dinner.

When the sun got low, Alice asked Edward, "Are you going to go to her again tonight?"

Edward considered it while staring at the floor. Then he resolutely said, "No."

He knew that he couldn't keep doing that. It was weird. Alice didn't say anything.

Edward continued, "I'm going to check on things in Port Angeles. See if somebody isn't suspecting something. Keep an eye on things here, please."

"You mean on Bella?"

Edward didn't answer, jumped out of the window and ran to his destination.

That night, Bella waited whether Edward was going to make and appearance. When he didn't, she made sure that the alarms were set and fell fast asleep.


	8. Pixie

Pixie

Monday came and Alice was decided to go through with her intentions and learn more about the girl that had managed to derail her brother. She even considered asking Jasper for help but that would mean disclosing what had happened. Alice and Edward hated to keep things from their family but they didn't want Jasper or Rosalie to overreact. Alice felt that Edward himself brought enough drama in the whole situation already.

Using her seeing eye, she dumped her lunch tray and the remnants of her food at the same time as Bella ("by a chance"). She bumped into her "accidentally" and quickly apologised, "Oh, I'm sorry, Bella. I'm not this clumsy normally."

"I'm sure of that," replied Bella.

"Are you going to come to the history club after school?" continued Alice quickly when she saw that Bella was unwilling to make a small-talk.

"I haven't missed it so far," answered Bella. She crossed her arms and silently waited for Alice to continue.

"Well, that's good. Jasper finds it so refreshing to see somebody so interested in history."

"You mean wars, since the modern history seems to be about little else. Jasper isn't so bad himself. Especially his knowledge about the American Civil War is astonishing."

Bella observed a minuscule flicker in Alice's eyes. That made her want to add, _"Almost as if he lived in that time,"_ but such a remark would surely push Alice back behind her shield. Regardless, the decision was there for a split of a second and that was enough for Alice to see it. It was an extremely brief and uncertain vision but it put her down a little.

"You seem to be rather uncertain around her!" mockingly said Edward to Alice, repeating her line from the previous day.

_"I was just surprised. It was nothing though,"_ thought Alice back.

Alice was back to her usual chirpy mood by the time she, Jasper and Bella met in the history club. Jasper and Bella got into a discussion about technological advances during the WW2. He noticed that she was discreetly making notes of what he said. When the session was over, Alice made another pixie approach to Bella.

"Bella! I was thinking, we meet here each session and yet, we never spend time together outside of it," she told her with great enthusiasm. "I wanted to come to that picnic trip with you and your dad but Carlisle and Esme thought that it would be better not to bring the whole family."

Bella thought for a moment and then answered, "Very well. What do you have in mind?"

"I wondered... I guess you wouldn't want to go shopping?" Alice saw Bella's answer before she even finished the sentence.

"No, Alice. Remember that shopping is only means to an end, not the end itself."

"OK, we can think about something else then," said Alice and started to make decisions about possible options and predict Bella's responses.

In that moment, Jasper decided to intervene. He wasn't sure what was Alice trying to accomplish, but he was willing to support her if it was what she wanted. He approached the girls and told them, "Excuse me, there's an exhibition of armament from the Second World War in Seattle."

Bella's eyes sparkled when she heard that, "Splendid! Do you have this Saturday free?"

"Sure," answered Jasper.

"Saturday it is then," added Alice. Inside, she thought, _"An exhibition of armament?"_

After school, Edward confronted Alice about the trip, "You haven't told me that Jasper would be in this."

She retorted, "Bella wouldn't want to go anywhere if he didn't help me. It's going to be all right, he won't try to harm her." Then she added in her mind, _"Would you like to come along?"_

Edward wasn't sure.

* * *

><p>On Tuesday afternoon, Bella decided to spend some time with her friend Jacob. They wanted to search the woods outside of the reservation and see if there wasn't something interesting growing there. They didn't have much luck though. When it started to get late, they returned to the truck and agreed to continue next day.<p>

On Wednesday, they continued their search in another part of the forest. Again, they found few herbs and mosses that were of any use to them. They found something else after a few hours though. As they hiked through the wood, they saw brightness in front of them.

"What is it? A clearing?" said Jacob.

"Let's find out," replied Bella.

In a while, they stepped in one of the most beautiful meadows they had ever seen. It was spectacular even in autumn and they wondered how it would look like in spring or summer. They laid in the soft grass and looked at the sky. They spent the rest of the day there. Jacob told Bella about his sisters and she told him something about her relatives. When the sun got low, they departed for home.

Later that day, when darkness began creeping in the woods already, Edward made his way to the very same meadow. He was getting anxious, as if he was missing something. Since the weekend, he had talked to Bella several times. She had never mentioned the whole stalker thing and they had not made any plans for repeating it. He suspected that she somehow knew that he had stopped watching her.

When Edward got to his destination, he froze immediately and sniffed the air. There were two lingering scents in the meadow and he recognised both of them. He felt mild irritation that Jacob was intruding on his private space. What affected him far more was Bella's scent, clean and sweet as that first day. If anything, it was actually strengthened by Bella's physical exertion prior to her arrival to the meadow. Edward got to his knees and sniffed at the place where Bella laid. He thought about what he should do. Then he got up and ran to Charlie's.

Bella was at the time finishing her preparation for school next day. Right before she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, she detected a breech of the perimeter. However, she wasn't sure if it was Edward this time. She decided to take the risk though, took her jacket and went outside, telling Charlie that she was taking a quick stroll around the house before going to sleep.

She was prepared to react in a split of a second and chose her path in such a way that any attacker would actually need more than a split of a second to get to her. She relaxed soon enough though, as Edward briefly focussed his gift on her. She whispered in the night air, "Edward?"

The addressed froze for second time that day and made no response.

Bella got angry and hissed, "Edward dammit, it's getting cold so if you are here then come out this instant!"

Edward jumped down from the tree and stuttered, "How?"

Bella didn't answer and brusquely stated, "I'm going to brush my teeth now. I'll meet you in my room." She left Edward standing under the tree.

Bella brushed her teeth, bade good night to Charlie and returned to her room. Edward was indeed waiting there. She looked at him strictly and said, "I sincerely hope that you would have come out of hiding even if I had not noticed you."

"I... I don't know. I just had to come here," replied Edward hesitatingly. He immediately regretted his slip in the second sentence. He also realized that he quickly pushed into explaining himself, when he should be asking Bella how she managed to catch him again.

"Why?"

Edward quickly thought and then answered, "Erm, I just wanted to ask..."

"Yes?"

"If you were at my meadow today."

"Your meadow?"

"You know, perfectly round, full of wild flowers, obviously cultivated and there's a stream nearby."

"OK, I was there. How did you find out?"

"Well, I came there this evening and found out that somebody was there... and it seemed that the tracks were going in the direction of your house..."

Bella chuckled and said, "Edward, then you are better tracker than an Sioux scout because we made sure not to disturb it there and we left no visible tracks."

Edward made no response.

"Let me guess, you were able to recognize my scent," continued Bella.

Edward nodded and said, "It was pretty distinctive." Then, although he already knew the answer, asked, "You said "we". Who was with you? Your friends from La Push?"

"Yes, Jacob Black was with me. You mind?"

"Well, it's a place where I go when I want some peace. I wouldn't be thrilled if it became overcrowded."

"As you wish, I won't take anybody there again."

"You are welcomed there any time though," said quickly Edward. "Though I would prefer if you didn't wander through the woods alone," he added.

"Maybe you could take me there yourself one day, if you'd like that."

Edward hesitated and then replied, "Maybe."

Bella walked over to her dresser and took a bottle with the remnants of her perfume. "Do we need this tonight?" she asked.

Edward shook his head and said, "No, that's all right. In fact, I would prefer it that way."

Bella smiled knowingly, put the bottle back and sat on the bed and gestured to the rocking chair. When Edward sat down, he asked, "How did you know it was me?"

"I didn't. When you live with a cop though, he rubs on you a little and you'll become more vigilant to you surroundings. So I noticed that somebody was here again and I thought that it was you. However, it could have been those men from Port Angeles for all I knew which is the reason why we need to put down some rules in this game."

Edward thought for a moment and then decided to alleviate Bella's worries. "You don't need to worry about them."

"Why? Are they dead?" asked Bella and raised an eyebrow.

"No, we... hired a detective... and he says that they are gone. I'm sure that the police will get them sooner or later..."

"Before or after they hurt somebody else?"

Edward's mouth become a thin line for a moment. "Don't worry about them, they won't hurt anybody else."

Bella opened her mouth to poke Edward a little bit more but then she decided to let it go. She slid under the covers and asked, "So, what are we going to talk about tonight?"

In the end, they ended up talking about music. Bella was surprised to hear that Edward wasn't only musical but that he was also composing. She always believed that vampires were incapable of creativity. Then again, the Cullens seemed like a whole new breed of vampires.

Edward was surprised as well. At first, he thought that Bella didn't know much about music and wasn't interested in it. Then he realized that she had some knowledge but it ended in seventeenth century. He certainly found that extraordinary. He was glad that he had somebody with whom he could discuss music older than him - that wasn't even possible with every member of his family.

Midnight was near when Edward told Bella that she should sleep and he agreed.

"Do you want to stay this time?" she asked.

Edward hesitated. He realized that if he was true to his nature, he would have stayed on the tree, watched her through the window and, like a true emoward, he would have tortured himself by being so close to her scent and yet separated. He nodded.

"OK. Take the chair to the far corner and promise me to stay there," demanded Bella. "Take a blanket from the dresser."

Edward nodded and moved the chair.

Bella continued, "I'm warning you, I'm a light sleeper. Approach me and I'll scream!"

"Don't worry, I won't," said Edward.

Only then Bella realized that she slipped a little. She based her requests on the fact that Edward was a vampire. However, a human boy would surely understand it differently.

"No offence," she added.

"None taken."

After Bella fell asleep, Edward stood up and started to inhale the scents that were wafting through the room. He watched the girl whose scent made him obsessed for the whole night. He noticed that she laid calmly and silently for the whole time - no rolling, sighing or anything.

When morning came, he began to consider what he should do. Should he just leave? Should he leave a note? Should he wake her and say good bye? After a while, he hesitatingly approached her. He decided to gently wake her and then depart and leave her to lie until her alarm clock would ring.

Something else happened though. Bella opened her eyes and hissed, "What have I told you?!"

Edward stepped back and raised his hands in surrender. He noticed that Bella's hand moved under the blanket. It almost looked like she was aiming at him with it.

"I'm sorry. It's morning and I need to go," said Edward quickly.

"OK," replied Bella. After a moment, she added, "Sorry for freaking out. I've meant what I've said yesterday about being a light sleeper."

"My fault," assured her Edward.

Edward stood there for moment, not knowing how to properly say goodbye to a woman in a bed after they had spent a night in the same room. In the end, he just said, "See you at school," and left. Only then he realized that he left through the window way too gracefully, just in front of her eyes.

He, Alice and Bella sat together during lunch that day. It also came to the weekend trip when they talked.

"Wouldn't you like to come as well Edward?" asked Bella. Then she turned to Alice and Jasper and added, "If that's all right?"

It was, of course. Finally, Edward agreed to accompany them. Originally, Alice wanted to have a chance to "investigate" Bella on her own. After she realized that they had little in common, she somewhat gave up on that idea. Little did she know at the time that they would become great friends in spite of their differences.

Weekend came and with it, the trip to Seattle. Normally, Charlie wouldn't be so all right with letting Bella go to "on her own", but Alice paid a visit to them and negotiated things with him. Bella had to admit that Alice was better at handling Charlie than she was.

At Saturday morning, the three Cullen "kids" arrived in Edward's Volvo to pick Bella up. The whole situation seemed somewhat surreal to Jasper - a month or two ago they were a family of vampires shying away from everybody and suddenly, they were having a trip with a human. What was also peculiar was the fact that the trip was a result of his suggestion.

Edward drove and Jasper sat next to him. Bella and Alice were in the back seat, with Bella sitting as far from Jasper as possible. Alice watched both Edward and Jasper while Bella was keeping a keen eye on them all. They arrived to Seattle and made their way to the museum. Bella wanted to buy her own ticket but the Cullens didn't let her.

As they weaved trough the exposition, Bella discussed the exhibits with Jasper in low volume. The exposition brought no special joy to Edward though - he lived (or rather "not-lived") at the time and thus he couldn't bring himself to see its historical value (unlike Jasper). Without that, it only represented human cruelty and suffering to him. As for Alice, her interest in such things was minimal and she was somewhat bored.

After a while, Jasper and Edward noticed that Bella wasn't as much interested in WW2 weaponry as in how it developed afterwards. Jasper remarked that to Bella and she admitted that she was more interested in history of the second half of the twentieth century and told him about the book she had bought (the one about the Vietnam war). Jasper had a faint feeling that it were the current military technologies that interested her the most. He couldn't understand the sudden boom of interest in her though. If she was so enthralled by it all, she would surely learn more about it when she was younger, not to mention that she allegedly had a lot of friends at La Push who would surely indulge her curiosity.

When they saw all that was to be seen and left the museum, Edward remembered that Bella needed food. He asked the others, "So, where shall we eat?"

Alice and Jasper looked uneasy, it meant another food charade. "Uhm, yes. We should look for a restaurant..." said Alice.

Bella rolled her eyes and exclaimed, "Oh come on! I'll just grab a piece of pizza somewhere!"

Edward wasn't surprised to hear that and Alice only a little. Jasper was another story though. Bella noticed his shock and apologetically added, "I mean, me and Jasper, right?"

"She thinks I'm on a diet," whispered Edward towards Jasper so silently that Bella wasn't able to hear. Then he thought whether he shouldn't extend the show for Jasper's sake but he decided against it. He didn't like deceiving him and he was sure that Alice wouldn't support him even if he did. Edward was afraid that he and Alice would have to talk to their family soon. He wondered how they were going to react to the fact that Bella's mind was silent to him.

After they bought slices of pizza for Jasper and Bella, they started to plan what to do next. Alice proposed, "So, Bella, I've noticed something about the way you dress yourself. It seems that you are always rotating through several sets of clothes you posses. For the whole time I knew you, you have never worn anything new." Edward and Jasper internally snickered, they were waiting for her to say that.

"And?" asked Bella.

"Well... Why wear the same clothes all the time? Maybe..."

Bella interrupted her, "Alice, that's what normal people do. We wear the clothes we posses until they deteriorate to a point when they are unfit for being worn."

Alice looked like she was kicked in a gut. "Oh come on, sometimes you can buy new clothes just for the pleasure."

"You can but you don't have to. Plus, worn clothes are more comfortable."

"I've come to the museum with you," pouted Alice.

"You actually want me to go shopping with you? After I've told you no once?"

"Well, it would be nice..."

Bella turned to Edward and Jasper, "How do you boys feel about it?"

Both of them nodded. Jasper couldn't do otherwise and Edward was glad that Alice was supporting his whim.

Bella turned back to Alice, raised a finger and resolutely told her, "One hour. Then we need to return to Forks."

Alice was disappointed by that. She was even more disappointed when Bella refused all the pieces of clothing she recommended to her.

"It's impractical," explained Bella every time.

"Oh come on, we need to find you something," whined Alice.

"You want me to buy something? OK, I will," retorted Bella, turned on her heel and walked out of the boutique. Edward followed.

Alice quickly paid for the few items she selected and ran after her. She caught Bella when she and Edward were entering a second hand. Alice made a horrified face. Then she took a deep breath and followed.

Inside, Bella was browsing through the selection. Finally, she stopped by a sturdy shirt with four pockets. It's color was wanly brown. "Now that's what I call a practical shirt!" she told Alice.

"It's hideous!" protested Alice.

"Who cares!" snapped Bella and quickly paid.

"You are going to look like some kind of a tramp or a gun-slinger on road."

"Thank you."

Bella ran out on the street, closely followed by Edward and then Jasper who led dejectedly looking Alice. The pixie attempted to "talks some sense" into Bella who suddenly turned and accused her, "Alice, wast majority of the inhabitants of this planet would find your overindulgence silly, unhealthy or downright insulting. I'm not going to say that it disgusts me though - it's one of the few things that bring you joy and I can respect that. Beats doing drugs."

Alice looked hurt. Bella couldn't hold it any longer and started to laugh. Edward realized what happened and started to laugh as well. Jasper soaked Bella's mood and projected it on Alice.

"Don't fret Tinker-bell," told Jasper to Alice between laughs. "Think of it as of a new experience - that's better than new clothes."

Alice's mood lightened somewhat. Bella had a feeling that Alice was going to remember it for a while though. After all, Alice's invitation to shopping was an offering of a bonding and Bella's rejection could be viewed as rude.

"What, this have never happened before?" asked Bella.

"Nope, nobody stands up to our Pixie when it comes to clothes," answered Edward. "She dresses our entire family."

Bella waved her hand and corrected him, "Oh please. Pixies are much worse. Not to mention uglier and ruder."

Edward and Jasper looked at each other. If their upbringing allowed them, they would ask, "WTF?"

On the way back, Edward sat with Bella in the back of the car. He was surprised how the day spent with her made it easier to be in her presence. Hence, he asked if he could visit next week to study with her.

* * *

><p><strong>England, middle of nowhere:<strong>

Harry and Hermione were alone in their tent, sitting at a small table. They contemplated their situation. In the end, Harry came up with an unheard idea that had power to even their odds or destroy everything.


	9. Friends

Friends

Bella and the Quileute core group were crammed up in Clearwaters' kitchen/living room. Henry (the guy who had lent his computer for Bella to practice on) and a few others were telling the others the results of their "research". They summarized various infantry weaponry and Henry passed around printed blueprints. They weren't military experts or anything but everything can be found on Internet, as they say.

"These are more complex than those handguns we are currently working with," said Bella, looking at the blueprints.

"And obtaining one of these is out of our financial limits," added Billy. "That wouldn't be such a problem but we don't know anybody who would sell us heavy weaponry either." He didn't like the whole idea of a possible conflict as much as some of the others.

"Isn't there some kind of workaround?" asked Sam.

"No. At least, not for me," assured him Bella. "I can't do this without an original. Moreover, I would need proper materials."

"Maybe we could open a gas station?" asked Seth who was listening behind a door.

"Shush! Go back to guarding!" reprimanded him Harry. Seth was making sure that no uninitiated person would walk in on them.

Bella stared at the table and slowly said, "It would be easier if we had some kind of expert with us. Isn't here anybody with military training?"

Billy nodded and answered, "There was one. He wasn't even Quileute by blood. Unfortunately, he died in the Gulf."

"In the gulf? Couldn't somebody... Oh! You mean the war."

Others rolled their eyes. Henry nervously coughed and voiced his idea, "You know, there is somebody with sufficient money and probably contacts as well."

"Who?" asked Billy.

Bella knew the answer and was quite surprised that Henry had the guts to say it. Then again, he also had a game with a dhampir installed on his PC. She closed her eyes and waited till the storm of shouts and exclamations receded. They dismissed the meeting after five minutes.

Bella knew that she still had some time before she had to return to Charlie. She turned to her friends and challenged them, "Race you to the shed?"

She, Jacob, Jared and Paul started to run. Sam looked after them, deciding whether to join them. He leisurely outpaced them when they were in the middle of the way. Jared and Paul arrived first, Bella and Jacob after them. It was a sign that what had happened to Sam was in progress in Jared and Paul as well. Jacob didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, he was glad not to be affected yet. On the other hand, he wanted to make his father proud and be useful.

When they arrived, Sam was already detaching a silencer from his smoking gun. Bella and others took guns as well and opened fire on practice targets. Unlike in Sam's case, their hands were shaking.

"How is Billy feeling about you playing with guns?" asked Bella Jake.

"Well, it's not like I'm carrying it with me," he replied.

Paul laughed and said, "How does Sam do it anyway? When he phases, not only he can't keep his clothes on but not even the gun!"

"Now that's something to think about," said Jared. "We could make some kind of holster on an elastic belt..."

Bella returned to her truck and drove back to Forks. As soon as she left La Push, Edward saw in Alice's thoughts that Bella was returning. He wanted to use the open invitation he had received from Bella.

"Alice? Do you have time right now?" he asked.

Alice frowned. When Bella had asked Charlie if it was OK for Edward to come over, she quickly added Alice's name as well to avoid Charlie's questioning about Edward. Alice wasn't thrilled but she obliged Edward in the end. They arrived to Charlie's house when Bella was getting out of her car. She looked slightly "caught at a wrong moment" when she saw them.

Edward was concerned and asked, "Hi Bella, you said we can come any time."

She quickly replied, "Of course, of course. It's just that one never knows with you. Come in." Inside, she thought, _"Dammit, were they waiting for me to return?"_

Alice and Edward smelled it them - the scent of gunpowder, lingering at Bella. They believed that Bella had managed to talk her friends at La Push into letting her play with rifles again - this time without Charlie's knowledge. Alice noticed that the smell was different though and there was a hint of something else as well. They wondered whether they should call Bella on that and whether Charlie should know. How would they explain their ability to smell the gunpowder though?

Bella led her friends inside. That is, neither Bella or Edward knew if they were friends but it could have been assumed for the sake of the argument. Thanks to Alice's presence, the whole thing didn't undergo any special scrutiny from Charlie who just asked if their parents knew about them being there.

Alice sulked at the beginning of their time there, since she still held some grudge against Bella for the shopping debacle. Then she learned that Bella spoke French, which was Alice's favourite foreign language. They practised for about half an hour when Edward told his sister that Bella really needed to work on her Spanish. They continued in the lessons which Edward had given to Bella previous week.

There was a time when Alice left to use the bathroom, for the sake of appearance. Bella used that opportunity to key Edward in the perimeter alarm. That and the instructions she had given Edward earlier gave her a hope that she wouldn't have to worry every time Edward decided to pay her a visit.

When Alice and Edward returned home, Jasper heard their car and waited for them on the porch. Both Alice and Edward already knew what was he going to tell them when they got out of the car. Jasper was leaning against the door frame and watched as they approached.

"We need to talk," he stated simply.

"Sure. Better assemble the whole family," agreed Edward.

"So, what's the occasion?" said Rosalie rather shortly when they all gathered around the dining table.

Jasper cleared his throat and spoke, "I believe that we need to have a thorough discussion. About Bella." He made a brief suspense before the second sentence.

"Again?" complained Rose.

Carlisle reaction was different though. What Jasper said made him a little worried and so he asked, "What makes you say that?"

Edward, Alice and Jasper himself started to depict all the events concerning Bella that occurred in the past days. Carlisle and Esme weren't exactly approving of Edward's stalking activities while Emmett was tremendously amused. Rosalie was disgusted. All of them were dumbfounded when they heard about Bella's exploits, her sharp senses and quick reflexes. Edward wasn't hasty to go into detail, he just stuck to the gist of things most of the time. He couldn't keep from his family the fact that Bella's mind had become silent to him though.

"Why haven't you told us all of this earlier?!" asked Rosalie in a shrill tone.

"I felt it would be better if we waited for a while. We didn't want you to freak out," answered Alice. It had been her idea so she said it before Edward could (though he would had proposed the same thing).

"Freak out? This is a serious threat to our family!" lamented Rosalie.

Jasper cleared his throat and when he had attention of the others, he told them, "Truth to be told, this would have alarmed me at the time."

"And now it doesn't?" snapped Rosalie.

Jasper hesitated and contemplated his answer for a moment. Carlisle raised an eyebrow at that. Finally Jasper answered, "Now I can't but notice the change of the emotional atmosphere in this family."

"What do you mean?" asked Carlisle.

"Well, I'm sure you've all noticed as well. It's not so stagnant around here any more," answered Jasper.

That statement was followed by a brief but furious discussion about the effect that Bella had on their lives. Nobody was actually sure what to think about her. Like a broken record, Rosalie was unwilling to admit that the effect was positive.

"Oh come on baby, at least something interesting is happening!" pleaded Emmett with her. It earned him a hiss from his mate. At least she didn't smack him.

Carlisle frowned and objected, "This is too serious. We can't just keep going on like this because it's amusing."

Jasper opposed, "With all due respect, that's easy for you to say. You have your work but the rest of us are crawling out of our skins here." Then he added in his mind, _"Especially our lonely brother."_

Carlisle looked at his family and said, "I suppose that nobody wants to move yet, am I right?" He knew that Esme and Rosalie would be against it and the others have voiced their interest in the whole thing already.

"We shouldn't do anything until we gain more information," stated Edward.

"It's possible that Quileutes are behind this," proposed Jasper.

"Or maybe she's a time traveller!" said Emmett in agitated tone.

That stopped everybody else in their tracks. They stared at him.

Emmett rolled his eyes and continued, "Oh please! Don't tell that I'm the only one who sees this. Her musical taste is ancient and she is interested in weaponry. She came from the past in some kind of a time machine and she wants to collect all sorts of technologies to return back with!"

Edward retorted in a cold voice, "Emmett, if she has a time machine, doesn't that make her more advanced than us? Why would she want today's technologies in such a case?"

Emmett continued his amusing theory with great enthusiasm which ended the session. The result was clear for Edward though: get to the bottom of things. He wondered whether he shouldn't warm Bella to stay away from her Quileute friends. Then again, he doubted that she would take such warning seriously from somebody who stalked her at night.

Edward found himself in the woods behind Charlie's house later that day. He listened to his thoughts and when he was sure that Bella's was near the phone, he called her from his cell. She picked it up as he expected.

"It's me. I wondered if I could come tonight," he said.

Charlie raised from the couch and walked to Bella.

Edward saw it and hastily said, "If you can't talk, let's pretend that I'm asking you whether I've forgotten my notebook in your room. Answer 'I don't think so.' if your answer is yes and 'I'm sure you took it with you.' if no."

Bella answered with the first reply without hesitation. When she retired to her room after the dinner, Edward was already waiting for her.

"Hi. Thank you for..." greeted her Edward.

Bella stopped him with a gesture and said, "I gave you an open invitation. I just need to know when you are coming and when not."

"Yeah, I brought you this for that," replied Edward, pulled out a box and handed it to Bella.

She looked at the package. It was obviously something electronic. "Ehm," was all she said.

"I've already set it to silent mode. Just check for any messages and let me know if I can come and when. There should be enough credit for that."

Bella had no idea what was Edward talking about but she refused to panic. "Can't we just make arrangements at school?" she asked.

Edward was confused. He answered, "Sure. But we can always be in touch this way."

Bella decided not to push any more and just said, "OK. Thank you."

When it was time for bed, Bella remarked, "It can't be healthy for you to sleep on that chair every time. Maybe we should get you a sleeping bag here."

"That's all right. Plus, I would be hard-pressed to hide myself from Charlie in such a case."

"Nonsense, I won't have your back on my consciousness. We can move my bed and create space for you between it and the window."

Edward just shrugged his shoulders and they haven't discussed the matter further.

After Bella turned the lights off and tucked herself under the covers, Edward asked, "By the way, should I wake you before I leave? I wouldn't want to startle you like the last time."

"Hm, when do you need to leave?"

Edward considered saying an earlier time to give himself a believable time to get home but then he waved it off and answered truthfully. Bella nodded and told him not to worry about it. They bade a good night to each other and pretended trying to sleep.

Bella decided to play a game that some of her former schoolmates liked to play in the first few years: small talking when they were supposed to sleep. It annoyed her at the time but the idea of trying the same with Edward seemed amusing to her. She whispered an hour later, "Are you asleep?"

"No," he whispered back.

"What did you want to be when you were little?"

Edward thought about it and then truthfully answered, "Soldier."

"Then we have something in common. I wanted to be a witch."

Edward blinked a few times in confusion. "Witch? What does living in a hut on a chicken leg and brewing of healing potions has to do with army?"

Bella yawned and replied, "No, not that kind. I wanted to be a combat witch!"

That definitely got Edward. "What?!"

"You heard me. We could actually make a good team, you would pin down other witches and wizards with a machine-gun and I would finish them with some kind of a curse." Bella turned in her bed and started to fall asleep before Edward could say anything else.

Bella woke up next day five minutes before Edward was supposed to leave. His eyes were open as well and his blanket was folded and put aside. He was leaning forward in the chair and his chin was propped on his hands. He straightened and said, "Good morning."

"Morning," replied Bella and stretched herself. Then she asked, "You should use bathroom now, before Charlie wakes up."

"That's all right, I don't need to."

"Of course, since you don't eat and drink, you don't need bathroom either."

Edward just opened his mouth in shock.

"Sorry, just joking," laughed Bella.

Edward stood up after he calmed down and said, "I'll get going. I wanted to ask though, would you like me to pick you up for school today?"

Bella welcomed the offer and agreed. After Charlie left for work, Edward returned in his Volvo. Bella noticed Jasper and Alice on the back-seat.

"Emmett and Rosalie?" asked Bella.

"They are taking Emmett's Jeep," answered Alice.

Emmett and Rosalie were already waiting at the parking lot when they arrived. Emmett wanted to approach Bella and say something slightly embarrassing to her but Rosalie grabbed his hand and dragged him away as soon as he said hello. Bella tried to learn from Edward what was that about.

"Emmett... he just finds this all very amusing," he said finally.

"So, your whole family knows?"

Edward nodded.

"Even you parents?"

"Yeah. They weren't exactly exhilarated."

"Awkward," uttered Bella. Then she asked more about Emmett and quickly formed quite an accurate picture of him. She filled it in her head with the rest of the "Cullen files".

The fact that she arrived to school with the Cullens didn't go unnoticed with Bella's schoolmates. Jessica was the first who got to question her about it. After two minutes of questions like "So, you've arrived with the Cullens today," and such, Jessica finally asked Bella if there was something between her and Edward. Bella knew that Edward was listening through Jessica's thoughts.

"Nope," replied Bella.

"No?"

"We are friends. At least, that's how I feel about him. I can't be really sure if Edward and his siblings think that highly about me."

"They gave you ride and you are the only person outside his family that he's talking to," reminded her Jessica.

"Indeed, but one never knows with Edward Cullen. He's a very closed person and most of the time he himself doesn't know what he actually wants."

Edward narrowed his eyes when he heard that. Whether it was true or not, he didn't like that Bella was telling such things to Jessica. Jessica asked whether Bella wanted to be his girlfriend.

"Eh... probably not," Bella answered.

"Probably not? Are you kidding me?! Haven't you noticed how he looks?" Jessica exclaimed.

"Jess! There are more important things than that. Reliability, for example."

"And he isn't?"

"Well, he doesn't fill me with a sense of stability. You should consider yourself lucky that he refused you."

"I've never told you such thing!" protested Jessica.

"No, but others did. As I said, consider yourself lucky. That boy would be no good for you. He is moody, unpredictable and difficult to cheer up. You would be fed up with him in five minutes. And I'm saying all this just as his friend, who knows what else would come up if I somehow got closer to him."

Jessica didn't respond right away to that. Bella leaned back in her chair, her eyes unfocussed for a moment and she spoke, "Nevertheless, I find myself in desire to comfort him and make him feel better for some reason."

Jessica blinked when she heard that, she didn't like sentences with non-trivial structure.

Bella looked at her again and with a chuckle added, "If for nothing else, then because I have a feeling that it's difficult for his family to have to deal with such a mopy pain in the ass as Edward."

Edward wasn't happy with majority of that conversation. Did she really saw him that way? He also didn't know what to think about Bella's dismissive tone when she talked about their... well, relationship. On the other hand, he was glad that she didn't tell that he had spent several nights in her room. What Bella said in the end touched him.

After school, Bella took the gift from Edward, which she already suspected to be some kind of wireless communication device, and went straight to La Push. She learned there that it was a cellphone. She went over the manual with Henry and he taught her how to operate it. She was also warned to be careful around it since it was easily jammed.

Edward spent night in Bella's room again and they established a routine from this during the week. They didn't talk about the conversation that occurred between Bella and Jessica since Edward couldn't tell Bella that had heard it. His family was glad that they had the house for themselves at night. Bella asked Edward once about it and he admitted that it was sometimes difficult to live with three perfectly happy couples.

A change came at Friday when Bella decided to push Edward's buttons again and commissioned Alice's help for that. She was already waiting for him in the room when he arrived. The bed was moved and a camping mattress and a sleeping bag were next to it. A set of pyjamas was laid on it. Alice's scent was over the things.

"What is this?" asked Edward.

"I told you, it isn't healthy for your back to sleep in that chair. That is, unless you were sneaking into my bed all this time?"

Edward looked horrified and quickly refuted that.

"OK. Get changed while I'm in the bathroom. I hope that you brushed your teeth at home, Charlie would surely catch you if you tried that here."

That night, as he was laying in the bag and staring at the ceiling, Edward pondered how did he got in such a situation. It seemed like yesterday to him when he first heard Bella's bored thoughts and had not seen anything extraordinary about her. Another thing was that despite the curiousness of the situation, he realised that he was experiencing the greatest feeling of normalcy since he was turned. There was only one time during the following week when Edward had to hide from Charlie and by the end of it, he felt like "sleeping" in Bella's room was natural for him.

As he watched her sleep each night, she slowly started to inspire his new song...

* * *

><p><strong>An unknown location somewhere on Earth:<strong>

A bird looking very much like a strange chicken was perched on a make-shift perch. Nobody knew he was there and nobody knew where he was (or that he was still around to begin with). His small, bird-sized brain (well, he was a bird) was full of plots and conspiracies which made Dumbledore look like a saint. His feathered body was slightly shaking from evil chuckles.


	10. Winter

Winter

Weeks passed and the air in Forks grew chiller. As the end of November drew nearer, Bella noticed certain level of buzzing in Forks. She wondered briefly what it meant but since her Quileute friends had not warned her about anything, she just ignored it. And so it came to pass that the Thanksgiving caught her completely unprepared.

When Charlie breached the subject a few days before the holiday, she just stared at him in incomprehension. He became quite confused quickly, which Bella immediately recognized. Sensing that she made some kind of a blunder, she turned to one of her last-resort measures. That is, at least when Charlie or anybody to whom she felt kinship was concerned.

One look in Charlie's eyes and a while later, Bella knew almost everything that Charlie knew about one of the most important American holidays. In the end, she managed to come with a plausible explanation, playing heavily on their friendship with the Quileutes. They agreed on having just a modest dinner together that day.

"Well, there's always Christmas," said Charlie at the end of the discussion. Bella mentally groaned.

Winter took fully over afterwards. It snowed sometimes but the snow never lasted long because it rained even more. Bella was surprised when she learned that the Cullens liked the snow.

Also, the holiday that Charlie mentioned began to approach. Bella had never celebrated Christmas despite the fact that her father had always enjoyed them for some reason and quite a lot of other people she knew as well.

Charlie was especially thrilled about the upcoming festival. After all, his daughter was about to spend it with him. Billy made sure to emphasize this to Bella and she had to promise not to sour the experience for Charlie, especially after the disappointment with the Thanksgiving Day.

"And by the way, if you finally perk up my wheelchair, I will consider it a great Christmas gift!" he called after her as she was leaving.

Bella decided that she should go through the gift exchanging experience. If for nothing else then not to offend or hurt her friends at La Push and not to look weird to her other close ones, Charlie especially. At least coming up with ideal gifts for Quileutes wasn't a problem since they knew all about her and so she could simply make things for them that they could receive only from her.

As for others, she decided to gift just Charlie, the three Cullens that were close to her and maybe Angela. In Charlie's case, she went with Billy's advice and resolved to manufacture for him something that would represent his closeness to Quileutes and that would keep him dry and comfortable even in Forks' weather.

Charlie came home one day and Bella was waiting for him with a tape measure. "Could you come over here, please?" she asked him.

"Eh, sure. What's the matter?" replied Charlie, unsure what it was about.

"I need to take your measures. Stand still."

Charlie was surprised but he did as asked. When he inquired what was it about, Bella assured him that she wasn't going to knit him a sweater. She went to La Push next day.

Her first stop was a tannery. She bought a piece of dark, sturdy hide there. Another hide caught her eye, a one that was finely dressed, soft and white. She thought of Alice and bought it as well. Afterwards, she went to other stores and bought some minor supplies as well.

When she had all she needed, she retreated to her shed and got to work. She never made clothes but she had some experience with making of leather gear. Normally, such a low experience would be a problem but it didn't matter much in Bella's case. All she had to do was focus.

Her ability to observe and understand other people and to "get into their heads" (metaphorically speaking) allowed Bella to come with nice gifts for others as well without making a big hole in her financial reserves. In the end, she was left with one final choice: what should she give to Edward?

As she sat in her shed and pondered over this question, her eyes fell on her bookshelf. It was filled with various useful books, some theoretical, some practical. One of them was different though, it was belles-lettres. Also, it was one of the few items in her possession that held any emotional value to her because she had gotten it from her father. Not that the value was too high or too emotional since she would have no trouble to part with it. What bugged her more was the fact that such a gift would surely make the Cullens suspicious. She decided to track the book.

Advent came and as it progressed, Bella was able to sense Charlie's festive mood. Billy noticed it as well and told Bella that he had not seen Charlie so happy in past seventeen years or ever for that matter. One weekend, Bella and Charlie arranged some decorations both inside and outside the house. Bella even started to make Christmas treats and pudding.

In the afternoon of next to last day of school before the break, Alice saw a vision. "Jasper, I think we need to visit Seattle," she said with a smile.

Edward saw her vision and wondered, whether he should go with them. Alice advised him against it though.

"Edward, I think she would rather appreciate something made by you," she told him.

She and Jasper borrowed Edward's Volvo and drove to Seattle. They both knew already what they wanted to get for Bella.

Edward was in a somewhat more difficult position. He was slightly unsure what a man should give to a girl who was his friend and in whose room he spend almost every night. Finally, he set up a tape recorder on his piano.

Next day, Edward and his two siblings dropped Bella at her house. She asked them to come in for a while. Once inside, she quickly ran to her room and returned with a leather coat and two packages.

Bella addressed the Cullens, "Let me make one thing clear at first: these are not Christmas presents. I do not celebrate Christmas and no, I don't want to discuss why not at this time."

That stumped the Cullens to some extent. Jasper wondered for a moment whether she was a Jew but dismissed the idea when he remembered seeing her eating non-kosher foods.

Bella turned to Alice, "I saw a hide at the reservation and thought of you. I hoped that it would be a nice peace offering if I manufactured something that is both practical and elegant. A friend of mine lent me tools for that."

Alice took the gift from Bella. It was a white leather coat, quite well crafted for an amateur. The hide was soft to touch but firm. It was moderately decorated.

Bella pointed at the hems of the coat and continued, "He told me to decorate it with this pattern. It was kind of strange though. It seemed that he had something concrete in mind but he wouldn't explain himself. He even offered to do it himself but I told him to butt out."

The pattern reminisced flowing blood but not very explicitly.

"He chuckled now and then and I was worried if he wasn't playing me. I was assured though that it was all-right and that you were going to understand. He also told me that it would be great for hunting so you wouldn't have to waste one clothes after another but that it wasn't sure for how long the coat would remain white."

Alice inspected the coat for a while, then she put it on. "Bella, that's terrific! I wasn't aware that you could work with leather," she said.

"Yeah, I understand - it's horrible. No need to spare my feelings like with a little kid."

"I meant it."

"OK, thanks. Isn't it too loose? I can make it tighter."

"No, it's just fine."

Alice handed Bella the bag she brought and told her, "I've got something for you as well. Since you are no longer spending your nights alone, I thought that you would appreciate some nightwear that is a little more... presentable."

Edward growled silently, he saw in Alice's mind what she had bought.

Bella's eyes narrowed for a moment. What a coincidence! The she looked in the bag and replied, "Well, if you insist Alice, then I shall wear it. Are you going to come tonight Edward?"

"If that's fine with you. However, if you find something daring in that bag, maybe it would be better not to put it on," he answered.

"I'll be expecting you then. I thought that maybe you would prefer to spend the Christmas with your family."

"Don't worry, I'm going to spend with them every day."

Bella gave Jasper his gift and he gave her all the episodes of "The Century of Warfare" on VHS.

In the end, Bella approached Edward and told him, "This is something that passed to me from a deceased... relative of mine. I don't need it any longer since I remember it all but it might bring some comfort to you. And who knows, maybe you are going to read from it to your kid one day."

That stung Edward a little. Nevertheless, he reached for the edge of the wrapping paper to unwrap the gift. Bella stopped him though and told him to unwrap it at home. She also advised him not to show it to people outside his family. Edward nodded and handed her two audio tapes.

"I've composed and recorded these," he commented.

Bella raised an eyebrow and somewhat dubiously asked, "You compose your own songs?"

Edward had mentioned to her that he was also interested in composing but Bella didn't believe he would be capable of original work.

"Yes. Haven't I told you that I do that? In fact, the last piece was inspired by you."

"Oh, really? I can't wait to listen to it. Thank you Edward, this is really nice from you." After Bella said that, she briefly hugged Edward in a sort one and a half-armed hug.

As the Cullens were leaving, Jasper turned back and asked, "I wonder Bella, how much have the Quileutes told you?"

Bella made a closing gesture with her hand and answered, "Only that you allegedly aren't evil and that you are trying not to be dangerous. Of course, logic tells me that there are others like you who are evil and dangerous."

For Edward, Bella's words were a reminder how wrong the whole situation was. Jasper on the other hand could stop his tactical nature from asking, "Like us?"

Bella sat on the stairs and said, "Look, I'm not stupid and I realize that you aren't normal. I don't really care. It's highly probable that right now, you think that I would be freaked out if I knew more but I've meant what I've said. Also, if you ever need help with protecting your secret, you can tell me - I won't require any explanations. And Charlie is a chief of police and he really likes your family. He could be useful if there was anything for him to do that wouldn't require him knowing anything."

The Cullens were unsure how to respond to that. As they were leaving, they almost wished Bella merry Christmas but she stopped them in time. Once alone, she took a better look at the gifts. She put the package of VHS cassettes under the TV to watch with Charlie later.

She took the bag from Alice to her room and looked at it's contents. All of it was obviously expansive stuff and Bella guessed that some pieces would make Edward blush if he saw one of them on her and if he was capable of blushing. As she thought of Edward, she put the first tape in a cassette player.

Charlie found Bella in the kitchen when he returned from work. She seemed to be thinking about something while she was rolling out dough. Charlie sniffed at the air and remarked that something smelled good.

Bella nodded to him in greeting. She opened the oven and pulled out a tray of baked ginger-bread treats. "You can decorate these," she said and gestured towards the prepared icing. She probably thought that since they already had an iron reserve of treats, she could risk letting Charlie help.

It was quite a novel experience for Charlie. He didn't know what to do at first and was generally clumsy in kitchen but he enjoyed himself. When they finished, they watched first episode of the documentary from Jasper. Charlie remarked that it was an awfully inappropriate theme for Christmas. Hence, Bella went back to listening to Edward's songs.

In the meantime, Edward was rereading "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" he had received from Bella. He had been confused when he had unwrapped it and had seen the unusually stylised cover made of leather. The reactions from the rest of his family had been similar. He estimated that the book was only a little younger than him but it didn't look like other books from that time. There was no author, only a small a small note disclosing the editor, the publisher and the year of publishing (confirming Edward's estimation) of the book at its end.

The absence of author's name (unless it was Beedle) indicated that it was a collection of folk tales. However, if that was the case, how was it possible that none of them had ever heard about such folklore? A possible explanation was that the book was purposefully made to look authentically. However, the age of the book spoke against it.

Then there were the tales themselves. Wizards and witches? Edward remembered that Bella had insinuated that the book was meant for children but he couldn't imagine that any sane parents would read such tales to their child. He wondered whether Bella was so different because the book had been read to her when she had been little.

Edward shook his head and looked out of the window. The sun was getting low. He was going to be with Bella soon and they would be able to talk about it.

Back at Charlie's house, Bella finished listening to "Bella's Lullaby". That last song dispersed most of her assumptions that Edward's compositions were only a combination of various other songs he heard before. She laid on her bed until Edward came.

"I listened to your songs," she said when he entered her room. Usually, Edward waited until Bella was out of her room to use the window but he forwent the pretence this time.

"They are very beautiful and I must say that I was quite surprised," she added.

"Surprised?" he asked.

Bella reached with her hand towards Edward and wanted to take his hand but he shifted so she grasped his arm instead. He didn't want her to touch his cold skin directly until he soaked some warmth. Bella pulled Edward down and he sat next to her on the bed.

She told him, "I hope I won't offend you now but I didn't believe that you and your family were capable of creativity."

"Why not?"

"I thought that you were... stagnant. Capable of memorising any amount of knowledge but unable to come up with anything of your own. And that the others like you were unable to do even that."

"And the songs changed you mind?"

Bella nodded and replied, "I noticed that you were actually expressing yourself in them and that it was probably an original composition, not something copied from other artists."

Edward thought about it. He realized that it was yet another thing that differentiated their family from other vampires. On the other hand, he was musical even when he was still a human and he seriously doubted that he would be able to excel in any other form of art.

Bella stood up and told him, "I'm going to bathroom. Change in your pyjamas in the meantime."

She returned about five minutes later. Edward was was already sitting in his sleeping bag next Bella's bed. She twirled around and asked, "Do you like these?"

"Yes. I'm glad that Alice gave you some decent pieces as well," answered Edward.

"Well, we can try the other kind when summer comes."

Edward groaned internally.

Bella laid on her bed and propped her head with her hand. Then she asked, "So, I guess that you've read the whole book already."

"Yes and I must say that I'm somewhat confused by it. What are those stories?"

"Well, they were collected by Beedle the Bard in fifteenth century but their oral origins are much older."

"I've never heard about them."

"I'm aware of that but I assure you, hundreds of thousands of children grew up on those stories. Or on their edited version for that matter."

"You too?" asked Edward.

Bella laughed sadly and answered, "No, I didn't have anybody to read them to me."

"I'm sorry," said Edward automatically.

Bella relaxed and put her head down on her pillow and asked, "So, which story caught your attention and why?"

Edward pursed his lips and though about his answer. Then he replied, "Well, if it's a real deal, then I guess all of them. But if it's some kind of a joke or a Wiccan fabrication then I'm sorry, it's all rubbish disguised as moral lectures."

"Pick just one. And let's presume that it's a real deal for the argument's sake."

Edward had to contemplate that for a while, it was quite a personal question. Finally he decided to be honest and answered, "I guess the hairy heart. It tells us that we shouldn't be closed into ourselves and that we should allow ourselves to feel something for other people." He cringed when he said that since it was exactly how he had lived in the past eighty years. Of course, it wasn't by choice in his case.

Bella frowned and opposed, "But that's not the message of the story. It's supposed to tell us that a total invincibility can't be achieved by any means, regardless on whether it is immortality or resiliency against emotional harm." And just like Edward, Bella internally cringed as well because she realized that she just described herself. Or at least herself before she had come to Forks.

"Well, if you look at it from more general point of view, then yes. Most people would probably have any use only for the explicit part of the story."

Bella chuckled and thought, _"If you only knew."_ Then she said, "And the story about the fountain, has it taught you anything?"

"That finding a true happiness is sometimes simpler than we think? I wish it was that simple in real life."

"Is that so? Don't you have a big family who loves you? There are lots of people who aren't that lucky."

Edward thought about his family. Yes, they loved him and he loved them but as he had told Bella already, the happiness they had found with their respective mates was making it difficult for him.

Bella continued, "You know, you are not a bad person and thus, I would love to help you get better. Unfortunately, you are also quite unstable and unless I treat you like a china doll, you might do something unpredictable."

"Me? Unstable? China doll?!" exclaimed Edward.

They argued briefly after that. Then Charlie woke up and Edward put a finger to his lips.

"Pst! Charlie!" he said. They were both silent for a few minutes and Charlie fell asleep again.

Bella turned on her back and said, "Look, I realize that your... condition, whatever it is, is making things difficult for you. Is that right?"

"Of course," replied Edward.

"I see. Yet I assure you, there are those who were dealt worse hand and they coped better."

Edward almost retorted that he seriously doubted that but stopped himself in time.

Bella continued, "Let me ask you a question. Apart from this condition of yours, what is the next worst thing in your life?"

Edward didn't have to think long about that, "Loneliness, I guess. Even surrounded by my family, I still feel lonely."

Bella smiled and said, "I understand. I've got a friend who was in similar situation for the whole time I knew him. Though your situation isn't as bad as his."

Edward couldn't contain himself this time, "Now I seriously doubt that. It's a little more complicated in my case."

Bella's eyes narrowed and she snapped, "Well, we can talk about it later."

She sighed, turned back on her side and continued, "You said that things are complicated. So the next question is, how much of that is because of your condition and how much are you causing yourself?"

Edward shook his head and uttered, "You don't know what are you talking about."

Bella started to get lost in conversation. On one hand, she suddenly didn't want Edward to think that she was just a stupid girl blabbering about things she had no clue about. On the other hand, saying too much was risky. And truth to be told, there was a lot of things about Edward and his family that she didn't entirely understand.

In the end, she said, "Maybe. And maybe things could become a lot easier for you if you wanted."

Edward suddenly felt tired and instinctively rubbed his face. Then he said, "Look, we really shouldn't talk about this. You aren't supposed to know that there is something amiss about us. And your friends from La Push were really careless when they brought you into this."

Bella's blanket got to cramped at that point so she stood up and shook it up. She thought about her reply in the meantime. Then she told Edward, "Look, I'll make you a proposition. Let's forget about all this during Christmas and let's just relax and enjoy the holiday."

"Why? What will it change?"

"My opinion about you, if you manage to keep you inner doomy-gloomy-Emoward in check. I would love to help you but only if you're worth it. I believe that whatever happened to you, happened to you when you were too young. In past several months, I've noticed too well that you aren't entirely stable as a result. You have to understand that I don't do this normally. I don't let boys sleep in my room and most certainly I don't run around, helping people out of the kindness of my heart."

Edward was little stumped by that speech. Then he asked, "Well, if it's so beneath you, why are you giving me a time of the day?"

"Because you are my friend and friends help each other," replied Bella. "And as much as I don't need anybody, my life here showed me that companionship isn't as overrated as I thought."

"And after the Christmas?" asked Edward.

"Then will be time for a little of air clearing. However, that would concern your whole family. But, don't worry about that for now."

Edward remained silent. Bella yawned and said, "I don't know about you but I'm getting sleepy."

Lights were already off so Bella just covered herself tighter and closed her eyes.

"Good night," said Edward.

After a while, Bella broke the silence, "Hey Edward, you don't sleep much when you are here."

Since that was true, though not whole, he answered, "No." After a pause, he added, "I generally don't sleep well."

"OK, then let's get started on what I said earlier. Come here," said Bella and lifted an edge of the blanket.

"What?"

"I'm going to help you sleep."

"I don't think you can."

"I promise it's going to help you. At least to some extent."

Edward reluctantly climbed in the bed - even if he managed to keep her from feeling his coldness, she was bound to notice how hard his flesh was. Bella made him lie on his side, with his back towards her. She shifted behind, put her arm over his shoulder and stroked his face.

She softly whispered to him, "Close your eyes and relax. Let all thoughts leave your mind..."

Bella slowly took him through the basics of her meditation technique. It didn't put him to sleep but it was better than nothing. And she learned that he could be really close to her without loosing his control.

As she was falling asleep, she thought of another reason why she should help Edward. Though she still needed much more information, she already suspected that vampirism might be a perfect solution to her own condition.

Edward returned home next day, it was Saturday and Charlie wasn't at work. He thought about what was he doing. He picked up the book again and absently leafed through it. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and almost dropped the book. A human wouldn't notice it but thanks to his perfect memory, he was sure that one of the pictures moved.

_"Am I getting crazy?"_ he thought.


End file.
